The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
09-21-12 | 09:24 AM
#52
Banned
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 7,982
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
JAWS 2 opened at the start of summer 1978.
More like the Luke Skywalker young people craze of STARWARS (1977).
09-21-12 | 12:24 PM
#53
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
One of the best TV spots for a not-so-great sequel to JAWS 2:
"In 1975, he became Hollywood's biggest star.....
and in 1978....Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....He resurfaced"
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tdZ5bXgFJRY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
"In 1975, he became Hollywood's biggest star.....
and in 1978....Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....He resurfaced"
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tdZ5bXgFJRY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
09-21-12 | 02:00 PM
#54
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
The hippie teens ruined this film. Had they kept the focus on Brody, it might have turned out alright. I DO love Roy's line "you better do something about this one, because I don't plan on going through that hell again!" Sadly, that's about the only sharp dialogue in the movie.
09-21-12 | 05:42 PM
#56
Banned
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 7,982
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
That's the real world look at what happened to the Red Sox last year how they got rid of the GM and manager after 2 championships in 7 years.
09-21-12 | 05:55 PM
#57
Banned
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 7,982
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
Favorite....review.....ever! From TIME magazine:
JAWS 2
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc Screenplay by Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler
Well, the big questions might as well be answered first. Is Jaws 2 as scary as the original Jaws? No. Is it as much fun? No. Will it make as much money? No. Is it a total catastrophe? Not quite. What, then, is Jaws 2? Quite simply, it is an almost scientific exercise in showbiz mediocrity. This smooth and passionless spectacle is too impersonal to win anyone's affection and too inoffensive to inspire hatred. It's so bland that it evaporates from memory as soon as the final credits appear onscreen. Were Jaws 2 not a sequel to one of the most popular movies of all time, it would probably sink, without fanfare, into the briny deep of drive-in triple bills.
Jaws 2 does have a few things in common with its illustrious forebear. It cost tons of money, is set around Amity (a.k.a. Martha's Vineyard), has a score by John Williams and stars a rather petulant shark. Roy Scheider, looking unaccountably like George C. Scott after a hunger strike, is back as the local police chief, and so are a few members of the Jaws supporting cast (Murray Hamilton, Lorraine Gary, Jeffrey Kramer). But the crucial elements of the original have vanished: there is no wit, no genuine terror and no cinematic dazzle. The first Jaws was made by Steven Spielberg, a virtuoso director with a Hitchcockian ability to whip an audience into a frenzy of simultaneous delight and horror. Jaws 2 seems to be the work of a computer that has been programmed by the same drones who used to manufacture Universal Pictures' disaster movies.
It is sad to contemplate how little imagination has gone into this effort. The rudimentary plot is set forth in a gee-whiz script that stops at nothing, including the invocation of prayers, in its pursuit of the cornball. The obligatory beach-riot scene is a crude recapitulation of the one staged by Spielberg three years ago. Instead of presenting fleshed-out characters (and actors like Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss to play them), Jaws 2 is largely populated by nubile teenagers who appear to be graduates of the Mickey Mouse Club of Dramatic Arts. When these kids meet their unsavory fates, one feels more relieved than mournful.
Director Jeannot Szwarc goes through all the motions of making a horror picture, but he fails to realize that audiences like a dose of suspense along with the carnage. In Jaws 2, the mechanical shark rears its fake head at virtually every appearance and attacks with predictable regularity. There may be more casualties than last time around, but more proves to be much less. The prosaic shark of Jaws 2 becomes such a bore he might as well be a carp.
For all the film's torpor, it is not incompetent at the technical level. The stunts often look real, and one of them, involving a helicopter, actually jolts us out of our seats. But scare movies are not just technology; to come alive, they must have spirit as well as profession alism. Jaws 2 is only a piece of presold merchandise, untouched by human hands. It spouts buckets and buckets of blood, yet remains, to the bitter end, completely bloodless.
Frank Rich
JAWS 2
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc Screenplay by Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler
Well, the big questions might as well be answered first. Is Jaws 2 as scary as the original Jaws? No. Is it as much fun? No. Will it make as much money? No. Is it a total catastrophe? Not quite. What, then, is Jaws 2? Quite simply, it is an almost scientific exercise in showbiz mediocrity. This smooth and passionless spectacle is too impersonal to win anyone's affection and too inoffensive to inspire hatred. It's so bland that it evaporates from memory as soon as the final credits appear onscreen. Were Jaws 2 not a sequel to one of the most popular movies of all time, it would probably sink, without fanfare, into the briny deep of drive-in triple bills.
Jaws 2 does have a few things in common with its illustrious forebear. It cost tons of money, is set around Amity (a.k.a. Martha's Vineyard), has a score by John Williams and stars a rather petulant shark. Roy Scheider, looking unaccountably like George C. Scott after a hunger strike, is back as the local police chief, and so are a few members of the Jaws supporting cast (Murray Hamilton, Lorraine Gary, Jeffrey Kramer). But the crucial elements of the original have vanished: there is no wit, no genuine terror and no cinematic dazzle. The first Jaws was made by Steven Spielberg, a virtuoso director with a Hitchcockian ability to whip an audience into a frenzy of simultaneous delight and horror. Jaws 2 seems to be the work of a computer that has been programmed by the same drones who used to manufacture Universal Pictures' disaster movies.
It is sad to contemplate how little imagination has gone into this effort. The rudimentary plot is set forth in a gee-whiz script that stops at nothing, including the invocation of prayers, in its pursuit of the cornball. The obligatory beach-riot scene is a crude recapitulation of the one staged by Spielberg three years ago. Instead of presenting fleshed-out characters (and actors like Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss to play them), Jaws 2 is largely populated by nubile teenagers who appear to be graduates of the Mickey Mouse Club of Dramatic Arts. When these kids meet their unsavory fates, one feels more relieved than mournful.
Director Jeannot Szwarc goes through all the motions of making a horror picture, but he fails to realize that audiences like a dose of suspense along with the carnage. In Jaws 2, the mechanical shark rears its fake head at virtually every appearance and attacks with predictable regularity. There may be more casualties than last time around, but more proves to be much less. The prosaic shark of Jaws 2 becomes such a bore he might as well be a carp.
For all the film's torpor, it is not incompetent at the technical level. The stunts often look real, and one of them, involving a helicopter, actually jolts us out of our seats. But scare movies are not just technology; to come alive, they must have spirit as well as profession alism. Jaws 2 is only a piece of presold merchandise, untouched by human hands. It spouts buckets and buckets of blood, yet remains, to the bitter end, completely bloodless.
Frank Rich
09-21-12 | 05:57 PM
#59
DVD Talk Hero
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 39,628
Received 1,662 Likes
on
1,179 Posts
From: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
06-03-13 | 07:33 AM
#63
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
IIRC this review was right above or below an even more scathing review for Grease. I remember because J2 was a huge movie for me as a kid. I was taken to the original on opening day when I was 8 and, being a certified Famous Monster reading, Aurora kit building monsterkid, loved it.
So when the sequel rolled around I was old enough to be a little more independent to fully chase it- I could bike to the drugstore to comb the magazine racks looking for articles about it- or hit the Majik Market to pick up a Jaws 2 Slurpee cup or pack of Topps cards- or I could just stay all day in the theater watching it over and over. In fact, this was the first film I ever stayed and watched multiple showings of in the same day- a trend that would carry over for the next three summers. Buy a ticket for the first showing and not get picked up until about 7 or 8 at night.
I remember Jaws 2 opened on June 16, and my mother took me to see it on the 17th. It was the first movie I can remember a theater making a lot of ballyhoo over- there was a giant cut out of the shark head from the poster, with the bottom jaw removed, so that it was like an arch that we had to walk through to get into the auditorium. Had never seen anything like that for Star Wars or King Kong, the previous two movies that would have been nearly as heavily hyped.
Even after all these years I still enjoy this movie quite a bit. I also think it is a lot better than people give it credit for- especially when compared to the most of the sequels that have gotten made in the last 35 years. We get character progression from the first film (Brody has changed in a believable and logical way) the teens that most people criticize I actually find quite believable and sympathetic. No GQ or Maxim models, just real average looking/sounding/acting kids. I also love their plight in the third act. While dramatically it is somewhat similar to the situation of the Orca being pushed too hard and breaking down and stranding them, it's at least an interesting variation of it. It also has the added appeal of seeing not just three men conflict with each other, but a whole microcosm of a society as roles are reversed and the Alphas find themselves ineffectual and helpless while the brainy nerds contribute intelligent strategy and counterbalance.
The original is a pulp novel elevated to A class status by a director who got lucky (that the shark never worked). The sequel had an even more disastrous production history (the original director bailed at the last minute, the film quickly re-written and recast) and aspirations are firmly in the B-movie matinee level- but it's a quality B movie, with good performances across the board, a truly great score, and some decent jump scares.
Would love to have the Blu-ray right now to watch but I have a feeling Universal will wait until September or October to release it.
So when the sequel rolled around I was old enough to be a little more independent to fully chase it- I could bike to the drugstore to comb the magazine racks looking for articles about it- or hit the Majik Market to pick up a Jaws 2 Slurpee cup or pack of Topps cards- or I could just stay all day in the theater watching it over and over. In fact, this was the first film I ever stayed and watched multiple showings of in the same day- a trend that would carry over for the next three summers. Buy a ticket for the first showing and not get picked up until about 7 or 8 at night.
I remember Jaws 2 opened on June 16, and my mother took me to see it on the 17th. It was the first movie I can remember a theater making a lot of ballyhoo over- there was a giant cut out of the shark head from the poster, with the bottom jaw removed, so that it was like an arch that we had to walk through to get into the auditorium. Had never seen anything like that for Star Wars or King Kong, the previous two movies that would have been nearly as heavily hyped.
Even after all these years I still enjoy this movie quite a bit. I also think it is a lot better than people give it credit for- especially when compared to the most of the sequels that have gotten made in the last 35 years. We get character progression from the first film (Brody has changed in a believable and logical way) the teens that most people criticize I actually find quite believable and sympathetic. No GQ or Maxim models, just real average looking/sounding/acting kids. I also love their plight in the third act. While dramatically it is somewhat similar to the situation of the Orca being pushed too hard and breaking down and stranding them, it's at least an interesting variation of it. It also has the added appeal of seeing not just three men conflict with each other, but a whole microcosm of a society as roles are reversed and the Alphas find themselves ineffectual and helpless while the brainy nerds contribute intelligent strategy and counterbalance.
The original is a pulp novel elevated to A class status by a director who got lucky (that the shark never worked). The sequel had an even more disastrous production history (the original director bailed at the last minute, the film quickly re-written and recast) and aspirations are firmly in the B-movie matinee level- but it's a quality B movie, with good performances across the board, a truly great score, and some decent jump scares.
Would love to have the Blu-ray right now to watch but I have a feeling Universal will wait until September or October to release it.
06-03-13 | 08:13 AM
#65
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
A couple other thoughts on the teens in this movie-
This was right on the cusp of Hollywood's shift to obsessively chasing the youth market for it's big releases- yet still early enough that the adults in the film are still the primary focus and not rendered as clueless and ineffectual so that the kids can step up and save the day.
The kids here behave like real teens do- they think they know it all, they take risks, and in the end go too far and need to be bailed out.
35 years later, that's one of the things I still find refreshing about this film.
This was right on the cusp of Hollywood's shift to obsessively chasing the youth market for it's big releases- yet still early enough that the adults in the film are still the primary focus and not rendered as clueless and ineffectual so that the kids can step up and save the day.
The kids here behave like real teens do- they think they know it all, they take risks, and in the end go too far and need to be bailed out.
35 years later, that's one of the things I still find refreshing about this film.
06-04-13 | 11:02 PM
#67
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
On Jaws 2, I felt the same as Larry. Had the same feel, vibe whatever.
I saw Jaws when I was 10 years old living in our summer house on the jersey shore and that made it even more scary.
None of us kids knew anything about directors or actors when we were ten then 13 when Jaws 2 came out. We just knew we lived at the shore and and we were positive if we went in the water a shark would eat us.
I know now that Jaws is a classic and what makes it that but back then I enjoyed 2 just as much as one.
06-05-13 | 07:40 AM
#68
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
Jaws 2 is as worthy a sequel as you could really hope for with a film like Jaws. It never had a chance at being an equal to the original and yes it did keep the same atmosphere in my opinion. Now, Jaws 3 and 4 were just abominations.
06-05-13 | 01:32 PM
#69
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
Here's yet another reason to love Jaws 2:
The John Williams score!
I love the theme to Eddie's death. The variation of the JAWS theme as the shark gets closer and closer to Eddie as he's swimming is terrific.
Kudos to Williams for not recycling the original's themes. Must have been a busy year for Williams, composing music for both Jaws 2 AND Superman: The Movie.
The John Williams score!
I love the theme to Eddie's death. The variation of the JAWS theme as the shark gets closer and closer to Eddie as he's swimming is terrific.
Kudos to Williams for not recycling the original's themes. Must have been a busy year for Williams, composing music for both Jaws 2 AND Superman: The Movie.
06-05-13 | 01:56 PM
#70
DVD Talk Hero
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 39,628
Received 1,662 Likes
on
1,179 Posts
From: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
I give them credit for going back to Martha's Vineyard to shoot after all the problems of the first. I would love to read Spielberg's script for the second film.
06-05-13 | 06:06 PM
#71
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
I was living in Pensacola at the time, and they filmed a little ways down the coast from us. I have friends who are in some the beach scenes...
06-06-13 | 10:30 AM
#72
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 379
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Maine
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
I remember when ABC used to play this with the underwater attack on the helicopter pilot inserted back in the film. ABC Sunday Night Movie was the shit back in the day. When the hell is this getting a BD release?? First day purchase for me. And I will admit I'll be buying 3 if it gets a 3D release.
06-06-13 | 10:57 AM
#73
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
I remember when ABC used to play this with the underwater attack on the helicopter pilot inserted back in the film. ABC Sunday Night Movie was the shit back in the day. When the hell is this getting a BD release?? First day purchase for me. And I will admit I'll be buying 3 if it gets a 3D release.
I agree. The ABC Sunday Night Movie gave a lot of deleted scenes that weren't in the theatrical release.
Some of the other examples I remember are:
- Scotty's nephew subplot from Star Trek II
- shitload of deleted scenes inserted back into Superman: The Movie and Superman II
- a new opening title sequence for Superman III
06-06-13 | 12:11 PM
#74
DVD Talk Hero
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 39,628
Received 1,662 Likes
on
1,179 Posts
From: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell
Re: The JAWS 2 appreciation thread
I agree. The ABC Sunday Night Movie gave a lot of deleted scenes that weren't in the theatrical release.
Some of the other examples I remember are:
- Scotty's nephew subplot from Star Trek II
- shitload of deleted scenes inserted back into Superman: The Movie and Superman II
- a new opening title sequence for Superman III
Some of the other examples I remember are:
- Scotty's nephew subplot from Star Trek II
- shitload of deleted scenes inserted back into Superman: The Movie and Superman II
- a new opening title sequence for Superman III