Cast: Lorraine Gary as Ellen, Lance Guest as Michael Brody, Mario Van Peebles as Jake, Karen Young as Carla Brody, Michael Caine as Hoagie, Judith Barsi as Thea, and Mitchell Anderson as sean Brody.

Written By: Michael de Guzman based on characters created by Peter Benchley

Directed By: Joseph Sargent (Something The lord Made, the Taking Of Pelham 123,Miss Evers Boys)

Significant producers: Joseph Sargent

Original Score By: Michael Small (Marathon Man, the Postman Always Rings twice, Klute)

Studio: universal Pictures

Release Year: 1987

Rated PG-13

Runtime: 89 minutes

Audio Description Produced By: Deluxe

Written By:

Narrated By: William Michael Redman

What Is it: Following the Brody family into the fourth film in the series, the Brody kids are all grown up, and Michael even has a daughter. His brother Sean, has followed their late father into the business of being a police officer. Everything seems to be going fine, until a shark shows up, with revenge on its mind. When tragedy strikes, Ellen becomes convinced the new shark is out for blood… of the Brody variety.

What Works: Well, most people would say nothing works. Michael Caine hasn’t even seen this film, but he has seen the beautiful house he bought with his salary from being in it. from a blind perspective, i can’t see a lot of the shoddy choices made by the director in terms of shots, which works in the films favor to some extent. Even with that taken out of the equation, the script is still utterly bizarre. Michael Caine might be the best thing here, but in no way is this him acting at full capacity. They did throw a fair amount of money at this, which I suppose helped it limp across the finish line. For a film that is often regarded as one of the worst ever made, it certainly isn’t the worst 89 minutes I’ve spent, but it doesn’t really have redeeming qualities.

What Doesn’t Work: Basically everything. The plot is absurd. jaws 3 was campy fun, having the shark invade Sea World. but here, they start in one location, and fly down to the Bahamas. Somehow, the shark swims, being able to track the family while they are in an airplane? It would be like watching it Follows, and seeing the creature walk across the Atlantic. At some point, there just has to be a reasonable distance. If they had crossed to the Pacific, would the shark have followed? Michael also is written terribly, which is likely why Dennis Quaid jumped ship. At one point, he just runs away mid conversation. In another scene, he is tracking the shark with his friend hanging on a ledge with a harpoon, and he takes this moment to lament how his mom and Michael Caine are getting closer together. this truly feels like a series of bad decisions, and its a wonder how a studio executive looking at the dailies didn’t know they were in the cinematic equivalent of a money pit. Even a test audience should have given them a heads up. truly, despite some talent like Caine and Mario Van Peebles, there’s really nothing to see here.

the Audio Description: but thank God we hired William Michael Redman to do the audio description. Having seen several really dreadful horror titles, he makes even the most dull of the bunch feel ominous. He’s ready to build to a climax in any given sequence, and his voice always adds the right tone to this genre. He’s given a competent script that carefully ignores the films mistakes. for example, the beginning shot of this over the opening credits with the shark is often regarded as absurd because of the point of view. It seems to be from the Shark’s perspective, like he swims with his eyes above water. Some surmise it must be the perspective of his fin, but we miss all that as they go neutral by giving us the actual credits. It is a smart play that saves the film embarrassment.

Why You might Like This: you just really have an unhealthy obsession with shark films. even bad ones.

Why You Won’t Like this: Jaws never needed a sequel, and with diminishing returns after each film, it’s easy to see why. The true revenge Jaws got wasn’t on the Brody family, but moviegoers too stupid to believe this franchise could survive without the influence of those who made the first film a classic. it makes a meal of those too desperate to watch something else.

Rotten: Final Grade: 2.3/10