Jaws 2 (1978)

Film of 2012 #33

The Sequel to the Spielberg classic that follows the residents of Amity Island as they have to deal with a second Shark attack in and around the waters of Amity Island. This film is directed by Jeannot Szwarc and does not have any input from Spielberg. The main adult cast with Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gray and Murray Hamilton reprising their roles but the focus of the film is split a bit more and follows Mike Brady the chief's oldest son who after a near miss in the first film is still very content to go in the water.

This film has the same basic formulae as the original with a different twist on where the end goes, ultimately you still have Chief Brody heading out on the water to hunt the shark. You have similar issues around the council and the chief clashing over whether there is a shark or not. You have the same issues around Mike wanting to go out on the water and his parents not wanting him to go out due to the threat of the shark. And him still going on to the water ignoring the risk his parents perceive. Thinking about this film in review it is very similar to the original in a lot of it's ideas and basic concepts, yet when I thought of it previously it was always a very different film. Overall though I still really enjoy this film. There are some great performances from the kids when they realise that they are in trouble and showing the fear. There are some stereotypical teens in the group but the cast is too big overall with the main character still being chief Brody, the lesser characters do not get fleshed out enough.   

It would have been interesting to see if they had removed the Chief Brody character and just concentrated on the kids and one of them had fulfilled the Chief Brody role at the end, I think that this would have made an interesting sequel. Overall I still consider this a great follow on to the original film and one of the stronger sequels out there. I also always want to watch it after watching the first and would say that this is a 4 star recommend, it has it's flaws but you can get past them.