Four years after the events of Jaws, Chief Brody has PTSD and evidence of a new shark attack has made its way to Amity Island, to everyone's skepticism. You'd think those ungrateful assholes would believe poor Brody by now.
Roy Scheider reluctantly returns in this cash-in sequel that Steven Spielberg completely removed his name from, which manages to take all the terror and adventure out of the original and distill it down to a lifeless cycle of shark, kill, repeat. It emulates enough of the original that it's still watchable, but it's basically a retread in every way. It turns out lightning couldn't strike twice.
2½ power cables out of 5
3 comments:
I've not watched the first film in many years, so the repetition didn't kill it as much for me as it would for someone who went directly from 01 to 02, but it did still feel superfluous, plot-wise.
On the plus side, some of the kids did a good job at conveying the 'abject terror' of being in such a situation. I liked the scarring on the shark. And, BEST of all, even though what I watched was technically ones and zeroes, the beauty of 35mm film stock was carried through enough to make it feel like an actual 'movie', which is something I rarely get from digital cinematography. 70s and 80s stock is my personal favourite. It had that kind of beauty.
Oh, and the scene near the start with the woman and the flare gun was hilarious. The editor phoned it in that day. :loldata:
Yeah, as a standalone film, it holds up much better to scrutiny, but I feel like Jaws already said all that needed to be said on the subject. Still, it endures as a piece of nostalgia (I completely agree that the film stock always makes me look back fondly on movies of that era) and one of the earliest recurring horror icons.
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