The horror is far from over! Four years after the great white shark terrorized
the small resort of Amity, unsuspecting vacationers begin disappearing
in an all-too-familiar fashion. Only one man knows the truth.
"You
don't have to worry about being sued or being ruined
if this turns out to be what I think it is, because
there won't be anybody here!"
- Martin Brody |
I sometimes wonder what people thought the first time they saw the trailer
for a film which was about to be released. In this case, I took a trip
back to 1978 where a middle-aged couple is slowly clicking through the
channels, looking for a good Christian-friendly program. "Perhaps midget
porn?" you ask. Perhaps. But instead of finding a little man, in a construction
helmet, frantically impaling a crack-whore, they are about to discover
a channel which is airing the new Jaws 2 trailer, I feel the conversation
would have gone a little something like this:
Click... Click... Click...
"Honey? What movie is this preview for?"
"Is that the music for that shark movie we saw a few years ago?"
"Oh yeah! Wait.. how can they make a sequel if the shark was killed?"
".........................................."
Click... Click... Click... |
Sometimes a sequel comes along where you place your head in your hands
and wonder why the fuck they would attempt such a feat. Well, you and I
know that it's for money and no other reason. Which I find depressing.
But even though Universal Pictures was spreading their cheeks wide and
hoping to be rammed by societies preverbal money-laden meat popsicle, they
didn't fully disappoint. Actually, Jaws 2 isn't bad at all.
The Gory Good: Director, Jeannot Szwarc (who
directed the film BUG in 1975 which disturbed me as a child), did
a great job at keeping the film-making similar to Steven Spielbergs work
in the first Jaws. This helps the credibility that we are still
in the small island town of Amity, Chief Brody is still protecting the
public and Mayor Larry Vaughn is still showing his lack of IQ.
The amount of actors they managed to recast from the first Jaws is refreshing and their performance is as solid as their previous bout
with a rouge great white. Specifically Roy Scheider, who returns as the
water-fearing Chief Martin Brody and manages to successfully show the paranoia
which has manifested from the trauma he sustained during the doomed Orca
adventure.
Other successes in the film are the clever ways they've managed to kill
unsuspecting victims, some new POV shots from the sharks view and much
better under water footage. But the film does have it's flaws...
The Bloody Bad: It's seems that filmmakers
feel they need to carbon copy scenes from the previous film they are making
the sequel for. Why? There is no reason they have to do this. If the story
line is well written and the acting is solid, there's no reason they have
to remake certain scenes. Remember from Jaws the scene where Chief
Brody, Quint and Matt Hooper snagged something while trolling for the shark?
Or how about being dragged backwards through the water with unnatural strength?
These are just a couple of the many scenes ripped from its predecessor.
Also, the coincidence of a great white shark, nearly the exact same size
of the previous shark, attacking swimmers off the same beach as the last,
is... well... hard to swallow. The chances of this happening is unbelievable
and absurd, causing the viewer to force themselves to overlook the bullshit.
Slaughter/Carnage/Butchery: As I mentioned
earlier, they came up with some great ways to kill off swimmers this time
around. My personal favorite it when a young teenage boy was dragged (with
a large amount of ferocity) into the side of a sailing boat. *THUD!* Classic.
As for gore.. not much at all. We see a little blood here and there and
a badly burned corpse in the sea, but nothing to get your panties in a
twist over.
Tits and Ass: Sorry everyone. Nothing. Not
even so much as a hottie wearing sexy swim wear. Fuck that.
 |  | 
 | 
- Original director John D. Hancock was fired
and replaced by Jeannot Szwarc.
- Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss were
approached to direct and star in the sequel but production on Close
Encounters of the Third Kind was running behind and they declined to
participate.
- On the Brodys' front porch is a flower planter
painted bright yellow. It is one of the barrels from the first Jaws.
- In one of the boat scenes a young man is
seen reading a book: Jaws by Peter Benchley.
- In the final draft of the script, Marge
and the helicopter both survive their shark attacks by hiding in the bubble
of the upturned helicopter. They are last seen arriving at cable junction
and presumably survive the film.
- The helicopter scene took four days to shoot.
- The name of Eddie's boat is "Tina's Joy".
- When the crew had to go back to Martha's
Vineyard for re-shoots in the Fall of 1977, many of the trees had already
lost their leaves. The crew actually put fake leaves on the trees to make
it look like it was still Summer.
- Due to difficulties with weather and environment,
most of the movie was filmed in and around Fort Walton Beach, Florida on
the Northwest Panhandle. Many ocean scenes were actually shot in the Choctawhatchee
Bay. Cable Crossing Island was a floating set that was kept docked at the
Shalimar Yacht Basin when not needed and could be seen from the Garniers
Bayou Bridge with its faux beacon flashing at night. Interior shots of
the teen hang-out where they play pinball were filmed in the original location
of the Hog's Breath Saloon on Okaloosa Island. This business relocated
to a new facility in Destin, Florida in recent years after the first site
proved very susceptible to hurricane damage. The original building was
still vacant and derelict in January 2005.
- The camera operator used a cowboy saddle
to be on top of the shark in a few scenes.
     
|
