Cast: Roy Scheider as Brody, Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody, Murray Hamilton as Mayor Vaughn, Joseph Mascolo as Peterson, Jeffrey Kramer as Hendricks, Mark Gruner as Michael, and Marc Gilpin as Sean.

Written By:Carl Gottleib Dr. Detroit) and Howard Sackler (The Great White Hope) based on characters created by Peter Benchley

Directed By:Jeannot Szoarc (Somewhere In Time)

Significant Producers:Richard Zanuck, Joe Alvas, and David Brown

Original Score By: John Williams

Studio: universal

Release Year: 1978

Rated PG

Runtime: 116 minutes

Audio Description by:

Written by:

Narrated By:

What is it?: After surviving the tragedy that befell the sleepy beachside tourist trap that is amity, Sheriff Brody (Scheider) is becoming less of a folklore hero and more of a problem, as his unresolved PTSD causes him to see sharks where there isn’t necessarily one. However, he ends up in a boy cried wolf situation when yet another shark swings by for a buffet full of unsuspecting tourists, and this time Brody’s kids are in the crosshairs. This time… it’s personal.

What Works: the great debate. is there anything worth watching in Jaws 2? It certainly is not jaws. It can’t be, it can never be. the moment Steven Spielberg passed off the director’s chair, the only way this was going to be as good as the original is if one of his contemporaries at the time had taken a swing. but, Jaws 2 wasn’t something Stanley Kubrick was interested in, nor Milos Formen, or even Francis For Coppola. It could have been an early swing for one of the horror greats, like John Carpenter or Wes Craven, much like how David Fincher started with Alien 3. That didn’t happen. miraculously, it isn’t a bad film. the third and fourth films are pretty terrible, but Jaws 2 is somewhere in the middle. it has an interesting portrayal of corporate greed, and Brody’s demons and nightmares haunting him so much it affects his ability to be sheriff. This has three returning original cast members, but really, Scheider is why it works. He’s more than willing to take a look at why Brody might be a little disturbed after all that happened in the first film.

What Doesn’t Work: it lacks the skill that Spielberg had at the helm. He had such natural instincts, the script was just terrific to begin with, and all the calamities during production made a film even scarier as we couldn’t see the shark very much. For the sequel, they seem to believe that what we were missing was more shark, and bigger kills. There’s one scene where one of the teens is clearly about to die, as the Jaws theme is operating at full blast, but he seems to swim forever before being caught. While the first film worked best on the water with the shark, the strength in this film is on land, as betrayal strikes Brody as rich developers don’t believe he’s the right guy to help them turn a profit.

the Audio Description: one of the older tracks, it didn’t even have credits at the end. However, it does follow all the shark sequences rather well, and highlights the intense stress that has Brody over the edge. He feels like a man capable of anything. my favorite scene is when he thinks he can see a shark in the water, so he just runs at the ocean firing his gun. It was a well described scene, not just because of the action, but because it captures Brody at a breaking point.

Why You might Like It: it is the only Jaws sequel worth your time. Roy Scheider is really solid in this, and the films willingness to lean on some interesting and dark character development sets it apart from the other films in the franchise. If you find some of the post-Jaws shark films to be decent, Jaws 2 isn’t far removed from some of the better shark movies.

Why You might Not Like It: Jaws is technically perfect, and the simple idea of doing a sequel without Spielberg is blasphemous. you’d also have to be someone who hasn’t seen the most recent Indiana Jones film, or any Jurassic Park movie after the lost World.

Fresh: 7.5/10