To believe that any effort to make a 'Jaws' sequel could compare with the impact of Steven Spielberg's original was a doomed notion even in 1978: the original was and is a cinematic classic of the highest order (despite having spent much of the '90s in almost-infinite rerun on the Turner networks), so much so that no sequel would ever have been able to measure up to its legacy. What happened basically is this: Universal execs saw the budget and schedule for 'Jaws' balloon so badly because of all its production troubles that they told Spielberg he'd never work in Hollywood again, UNTIL the movie was released and broke every box-office record imaginable. As they are wont to do in the face of staggering profit, these moneymongers quickly turned keel and told Spielberg they were behind him 100 percent the whole time and they wanted to know when he was planning to start shooting 'Jaws 2'. Spielberg, being smart, said 'No thanks', so the execs decided to go ahead with 'Jaws 2' without him. BIG mistake.
Thankfully, though, producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown remained in charge of things, and got the highly-underrated director Jeannot Szwarc to try to pick up the pieces, even going so far as to re-enlist the incomparable John Williams to score the film. The end result is a sequel that is essentially the 'Jurassic Park 2' of its day - critically landblasted, commercially eschewed, yet despite its dramatic idiosyncracies and the impossibility of competing with the original film, proves to be an entertaining follow-up nonetheless.
Much of the original cast returns, save Richard Dreyfuss (who, like Spielberg, was smart enough to know when to pass) and Robert Shaw (who, apart from his character being killed in the original, had himself died of a heart attack in 1978). But Roy Scheider's return is the saving grace here, as now he's given new dimensions to his character: his growing spite toward his wife's boss, his desperation in trying to prove that a new shark has arrived despite a more skeptical public this time around (since sharks rarely attack the same place twice, you can't really blame them). The acting remains solid in 'Jaws 2' - Murray Hamilton's character is a refreshing surprise, still just as disbelieving yet he can't help but be a little sympathetic for Brody this time - and remains that way even during the straining final hour of the film when Szwarc has to resort to the all-out terror of having the teenage daysailers menaced by the monolithic maneater.
Then there's the whole aspect of the shark itself. Since there's only so many times you can have a different giant shark attack the same island, the movie stretches its premise to the maximum level of plausibility. The shark's feats this time around are, to say the least, improbable - outrunning a speedboat and being able to sink a mini-copter, in particular - but Szwarc captures them on film quite well, and their absurdity pales in comparison to what we get in the last two entries in the series. And Szwarc and screenwriters Carl Gottlieb (returning from the original) and Howard Sackler (who contributed to the original but turned down screen credit) send their shark out in a death scene that has much more panache than the 'shoot-the-scuba-tank-stuck-in-its-mouth' gag.
'Jaws 2' has its bland and silly moments, but if you loved the suspense of the original, then this entry in the series is about the only follow-up that you might find truly worth your time and money.
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