Jaws 2 (1978)

After I had discovered Jaws, my Pop told me and my sister about Jaws 2 and Jaws 3. A good seven or

eight years later, he and his wife were at the beginning of an unprecedented divorce, and Pop took us to HMV to buy some DVDs to keep us occupied while he and his wife had terrible post-marital discussions (true story). We chose Jaws 2, Jaws 3 and Billy Elliot. I watched Jaws 2 a lot as an adolescent, and finally got a cheap copy of it this weekend, having burnt out the old copy years ago, and watched it for the first time with actual attention. You see, as a kid, I watched all of the Jaws movies, and pretty much zoned out during all of the long boring talky bits, and came back when the shark appeared. As I matured, I came to appreciate all the discreet details that made Jaws what it was, and in a lot of important ways, made Jaws 2 an almost worthy sequel.

Jeannot Szwarc directs this sequel (Spielberg's resistance to sequels of his own work, excepted only with The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, is famous), and his employment on this picture went down as somewhat controversial; Roy Scheider, forced into reprising Martin Brody by his five-picture contract with Universal, had an infamously aggressive working relationship with Szwarc, who comes across as a rather stubborn director to work with. But in the face of it all, Szwarc does a pretty sterling job of crafting a movie that feels like a natural extension of Spielberg's, with similar visuals, themes and a great musical contribution, again, by John Williams.

Four years after the ordeal on Amity Island, two divers are expired by an unseen aquatic evil, while their huge underwater camera spontaneously clicks its own shutter multiple times. Martin Brody is past his glory days as the hero of Amity, and doing his best to be a good chief to the Island, and a good husband to Ellen (Lorraine Gary), who is now on the town council and trying to sell the place to tourists. When several cool gory killings take place, and photos from that magic diver camera get developed, Brody becomes convinced that a shark is terrorising the Island once again, much to the repetitive and monumentally unwise denial of the incorrigible Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), who apparently didn't learn his lesson back in 1975.

Meanwhile, Brody's son Michael is now a high schooler, and the local teens enjoy a cruising culture in boats the way most kids do in cars, making them the perfect bait for the latest great white lined up to feast upon some New England chowder. As with Jaws, Szwarc allows a good half of the movie to be allocated to setting scene and establishing characters, making both adults and teens surprisingly well-rounded characters. There are a good dozen teenagers who set out on doomed boat journeys, all of whom are very realistic, both in looks and in performances. Ann Dusenberry and Donna Wilkes, as Tina and Jackie respectively, are particular standouts in conveying histeria.

In spite of some silly moments - including the one in which the hydraulic innards of the pursuing

shark are very obviously visible - Jaws 2 is a solid picture, and marks the finish line of the success of the franchise. Joe Alves, who served as production designer on the first two Jaws movies and did an excellent job both times, went on to helm Jaws 3 as director, and somehow turned out one of the stupidest, most laughable pictures in movie history. Watching Jaws 2 and being reminded of Alves' involvement, I wonder where the hell it all went wrong for him. I must review Jaws 3 sometime in order to elaborate on exactly why it is such a dumb movie. I knew it when I was 13, and I definitely know it now.