Calvin

Queston: Why does this movie get ripped a new one all the time? I know it ain't no JAWS, but I enjoyed this flick as a kid and I still do. Nice shark scenes, good body count and Roy S.

Compare it to 3 and 4, it's Gone with the Wind.

So how come it doesn't get any respect?

SunMonkey

Honestly, I have never heard anyone say anything about this movie, good or bad.

TomOpus

I've thought it was an okay movie... unnecessary but okay. Of course, any sequel to a movie as great as Jaws is going to be a letdown.

Daytripper

Don't mean to threadcrap but I thought this movie was....well....crap. TERRIBLE acting and horrible direction. And story....what story?

jeffkjoe

JAWS 2 was a very good effort in my opinion.


Pros:

Roy Scheider
John Williams
good action sequences - the electrical cord, the helicopter, etc.

Cons:

teenagers all faceless, without personality

shaggy

I really like Jaws 2 , it fits very well with the first one. I actually like part 3 too. As a stand alone film its good, as long as you don't compare it to the original, which is by far one of my favorite films.

Rammsteinfan

I like the first 3 films. Of course it goes downhill along the way but theres nothing wrong with em.

jaeufraser

It's probably because the first movie is just so damn good. Part 2 just isn't as good, though I admit it's still a decent flick. The less said about part 4, the better. The Jaws series seems to reflect closely the superman series in terms of quality.

El-Kabong

The second one is ok - nothing to write home about, but certanly a very solid, very entertaining film. Good, mindless fun.

Just dont compare it to the first one. First one=God amongst men, Second one=just so-so.

ckolchak

i still enjoy it too.
i was 11 when it came out.
i remember my mom drove an hour to take me to it the second day it was in release.
the theater had a huge standee of the sharks upper teeth forming a arch that you had to walk under to get into the theater.
saw it a bunch of times that summer and have always enjoyed it since.

i think it is interesting that, if the mechanical sharkhad actually been working as intended, the first film would have been robbed of what so many critics have complimented it and Spielberg for- not showing the shark and therefore ratcheting up the suspense.

i think Swzarc is generally a decent, if undistinguished, director. he toiled in the slave mines of Universal epsiodic tv all thru the seventies and was highly competent.
i think his rationale for showing off the shark more was valid(that , with a sequel, a lot of the freshness is already gone so you might as well just embrace that and go with it).

i still enjoy Scheiders performance and appreciate that the character has an arc from the first film to the second film.
his failings are human and believable, and its nice to see the focus of a summer sequel on an adult w/ 'issues'.

i also don't mind the teenagers.
in fact, i still think they are some of the best 'teens' i've seen in a film like this. not only are the actors age appropriate, there is a nice diversity to mix, and i think the way they react to the events is believable, and their perdicament is unique, being tethered to that floating pile of junk they have no way to navigate-even though they are all proficent sailors.

the original is a one of a kind, intelligent adventure movie, that was the product of some happy accidents (the failure of the mechanical shark being the primary one), and a cast that had perfect chemistry-
but i will always have a fond spot for the follow-up.
plus it contains one of Williams most lush, beautiful scores.

i dunno.
i really don't care.

i could name a dozen other sequels that are more derivative, or quite a bit stupider than the original, which are still regarded as being quite a bit better than J2.
people are idiots anyway.

i'm just grateful that Universal put out a more than decent dvd of it.
i was not expecting any extras whatsoever, and the a/v is really fine for something from the late 70s.

Calvin

Actually I think Jaws 2 has the best death scene, when the girl helps Mike out of the water and you see the shark comming up from behind her, then the camera retreats and all you see is the shark's jaws munching a few times....


that one scene blows me away. Best Jaws death out of all the films, and I love JAWS 1 too.

Iron Chef

that scene always sends chills up my spine - probably because of the crunching noises

resinrats

Of the 4 Jaws movies, #2 didn't use some sort of explosive to kill the shark. Just by that merit, it is great.

chanster

I don't think Jaws 2 ever gets labeled as a piece of crap. Its a nice straw man argument though

custom001

People just hate it because it was made by a French guy.

Seriously, I enjoyed JAWS 2 quite a bit. Good popcorn flick.

rennervision

It's hard for me to like a sequel when a once-in-a-lifetime event (in this case, a giant great white feeding off Amity Island) happens twice. Although I wouldn't consider the movie bad by any means, the suspension of disbelief required to accept such an amazing coincidence affects my ability to fully enjoy the movie.

I think it would have made more sense if another great white started attacking a completely different beach. So then Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) gets called in to assist since he's an expert on this type of thing. You could even write in Police Chief Brody at this point, since we'll assume he's now a close personal friend of Hooper's.

Then just basically go with the original idea of kids trapped out in the ocean with the shark hunting them. Of course, I assume Richard Dreyfuss was not interested in a sequel. But maybe he would have reconsidered if only the script didn't depend on the coincidence of another shark attacking Amity again!

JasonF

My desire to see any of the sequels to Jaws is right up there with my desire to see any of the sequels to Psycho.

devilshalo

JAWS 2 was great!

Because it allowed the director to do Somerwhere in Time.



I didn't care for the story. Making Brodie some kind of shark lunatic. One that ultimately took his life (By Ellen's account in JAWS 4). Giving the premise that the shark has some kind of personal vendetta by going after the kids. And on top of that, the shark took down a helicopter. C'mon.

Shannon Nutt

I'd agree with this...SOMEWHERE IN TIME is my all-time favorite film.

jeffkjoe

JAWS 2

Best tag line ever:


"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."


JAWS: THE REVENGE

Worst tag line ever:

"This time, it's personal."

Shannon Nutt

Let's not forget Jaws 3-D:
"The Third Dimension is Terror"

chanster

Actually I don't think that was the premise of 2. I think they just said there was another member of that shark's family in the area.

The later sequels implied it was personal (i.e. shark traveling from Cape Cod down to Jamaica)

devilshalo

So it was a fluke that the shark scares the one scuba diver into surfacing so fast and getting the bends, that he bypasses him (and the rest of the divers) and heads straight for the 5 sailboats/catamarans?

What was supposed to be the time frame between the first film and the second? A year later?

Actually, even tho JAWS 3-D had characters named Sean and Michael Brody, they weren't exactly Martin's kids. And there were 2 sharks - mother and offspring.

Shannon Nutt

I loved Roger Ebert's take on JAWS: THE REVENGE:

chanster

If I remember correctly (haven't seen the film in years), the diver got scared of the shark and surfaced before the shark could attack.

The sailboats were in the water much later. I could be completly wrong