Yeah, why should we believe Brody? It's not like a few years back a man eating shark terrorized the island.
How the hell is Larry still the mayor??! And I want to know if he's still the mayor after the events of JAWS 2, because if he is.....remind me never to go swiming in a 500 mile radius of wherever that man holds a seat at council.
JAWS 2 is borderline ridiciulous. Especially because Chief Brody managed to come up with a pretty awesome one liner right before killing a giant shark.......again.
Having said all of that, I still find the film "watchable". I've always thought "hey it could happen again. These waters have sharks in them...happened before, perhaps it'll keep happening." A few good scenes. The water skier was pretty serious, the chopper going down was pretty cool....the way the shark was burnt up throughout the film, kinda cool etc etc.
Now I'd never compare it to the original, which is my favorite film of all time but I don't "hate" it. A watchable film with a few pretty enjoyable scenes. How's that sound when they push an anniversary version?? ;D
(http://www.jaws-3d.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/J2-19.jpg)
"Feast your eyes! Glut upon my accursed ugliness!"
Roy Scheider was one of the few "contract players" left at Universal when this was made. They only way they could get him to do it was to count it as two films on his remaining three-picture deal. He then spent all his down time suntanning, which was driving the make-up crew nuts. None of his early scenes matched his increasingly bronzed skintones from his later scenes!
Somewhere, I've got the Hank Searles movie novelization. He stuck in a subplot about the shark being a female and it birthing a pup just before it got fried, that was then used as the basis for the entire plot of "Jaws 3D"!
I am always a sucker for monster-in-the-water pictures. Can be a plesiosaur, a shark, a squid, a gill-man, I love all that stuff.
So, I kinda enjoy this film. I don't think it's a great movie, seriously. It plays and feels like a very crude imitation of the first film--a banged-out quickie sequel, with everyone who returned from the first film getting paid well to show up and say "Hey! I'm here. it's me again!" However, you may note:
1. Monster in the water, makes many appearances and does scary things.
2. Monster actually rears up out of water and pulls down helicopter.
3. Monster uses victims in water as bait, to draw helicopter nearer.
It's awesome!
I don't care how bad a film is--if it has a shark pulling a helicopter into the water, it gets big popcorn points.
Quote from: neonnoodle on May 12, 2012, 11:12:27 PMI don't care how bad a film is--if it has a shark pulling a helicopter into the water, it gets big popcorn points.
And now they catch airplanes, too!(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jmxbzwP-cP8/TdRJ0KLNpdI/AAAAAAAAAYo/Xh8rf4NrcSc/s1600/The_plane.png)
Great posts Count and Neon!
I have heard about the suntanning thing and I gotta admit that's pretty funny!
I'm with you Neon, water is great monster material! Though I draw the line with shark movies after JAWS 2. I can't even believe they did 2 more!!
I mean really, if you're Ellen Brody and 20 someodd years later another shark followed you to the other side of the world and terrorized you there--you uh, might wanna think about moving to a landlocked state. Or maybe the Sahara.
Quote from: Count_Zirock on May 12, 2012, 11:17:00 PM
And now they catch airplanes, too!
Yeah, yeah, I saw that one...you're talking about Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, I think that's the title? That movie was so bad it glowed in the dark...
Quote from: BlackLagoon on May 12, 2012, 11:17:27 PM
Great posts Count and Neon!
I have heard about the suntanning thing and I gotta admit that's pretty funny!
I'm with you Neon, water is great monster material! Though I draw the line with shark movies after JAWS 2. I can't even believe they did 2 more!!
I mean really, if you're Ellen Brody and 20 someodd years later another shark followed you to the other side of the world and terrorized you there--you uh, might wanna think about moving to a landlocked state. Or maybe the Sahara.
"Jaws: The Revenge," is like a Uwe Boll movie, it's so bad. When the shark started roaring like Spot from "The Munsters," I nearly peed my pants laughing!
The thing I liked about the shark eating the plane in that movie: A couple of shots in that sequence had some "camera-shake" applied.
Camera shake adds that cinema verite quality that people crave so much these days. A wobbly camera makes a viewer think "documentary" in a Pavlovian kind of way. As in, "Oh, the camera's shaking. This must be a real event someone recorded with a camera, and here are the rough edges to prove it!"
The shark jumping into the air must have looked so silly when they were putting the scene together that someone surely must have said, "Oh. Oh, that's crazy. No one will ever believe that, it's so ridiculous. We have to do something--we have to--let's.....let's add some camera-shake to that!"
JAWS 3 is kind of fun to watch- if you ever went to Busch Gardens or Cypress Gardens in the 60s/ early 70s. I remember watching in awe, and jumping up and clapping like a crazed seal, while watching those water skiing shows when I was a kid! And they were soooo corny! Like the Lil Abner themed shows. But I had a good time because I was with my grandparents and they lived in paradise (Florida) and I lived in the bowels of Michigan.
Calvin Bouchard was just horrible. Lou Gossett Jr. needed a better accent, and more facial expressions to choose from. Uggh!
I will watch JAWS 2 without any complaints, but I also have a ton of unanswered questions! Like why did all those teen boys think that "new" girl was soooo hot??
While I concur that the original JAWS is one of the best films ever made, I find the sequels to be awful (albeit watchable), even for a cheese lover like me. Jaws 2 lost me when the shark downed the helicopter.
The helicopter bit wasn't one of the Great Moments of cinema...
But Jaws 3 is far worse...even though I can watch that one too. But it's definitely a nostalgic thing with me. I saw it in its original incarnation of "Jaws 3-D," with its gory horrors shown in vivid polarized stereoscopic detail. I think even before going into the theatre, I was sure the movie would not be winning any awards--except maybe a Golden Turkey award...but I was enjoying bad films at that time, and had learned how to appreciate a cheese sandwich. There isn't too much I can even say about Jaws 3, but some months ago I was "missing" the experience, and ordered a cheap used copy. It was fun watching it again!
Quote from: neonnoodle on May 13, 2012, 11:36:09 AM
The helicopter bit wasn't one of the Great Moments of cinema...
But Jaws 3 is far worse...even though I can watch that one too. But it's definitely a nostalgic thing with me. I saw it in its original incarnation of "Jaws 3-D," with its gory horrors shown in vivid polarized stereoscopic detail. I think even before going into the theatre, I was sure the movie would not be winning any awards--except maybe a Golden Turkey award...but I was enjoying bad films at that time, and had learned how to appreciate a cheese sandwich. There isn't too much I can even say about Jaws 3, but some months ago I was "missing" the experience, and ordered a cheap used copy. It was fun watching it again!
The 3D in it was gorgeous, though! There were times I could've sworn I could've walked right up to the screen and stepped onto the set. Process shots looked crappy, though. You could see the matte-lines around objects like someone had outlined them with black Sharpies!
You know, around 1983, I met one of the people who worked on those process shots. My friends had been joking about "the bright yellow subs in the blue water" because they really got a kick out of those. I asked this fellow how those shots had gotten finished that way and he said something like, "Oh, the color temperature. I did those--I had no choice! I was TOLD to do them that way." And he rolled his eyes as if remembering the horror of that job!
I never understood Jaws the Revenge, did the shark call their travel agent to find out where they were going?
Quote from: Count_Zirock on May 12, 2012, 11:25:47 PM
"Jaws: The Revenge," is like a Uwe Boll movie, it's so bad.
Best description of Jaws 4 ever!
While "Jaws" was one the greatest adventure films ever made, I've always thought of "Jaws II" to be much more in line with the "teen horror" films of the day. The Shark essentially becomes Jason from the "Friday the 13th" movies, stalking a bunch of horny teens one by one. It just takes place in the ocean instead of at Camp Crystal lake.
Jaws 2 reminds me of Halloween II, also. Halloween II was no masterpiece of suspense-building. But it was a competent piece of cheese...a fairly inexpensive sequel that delivered a lot of action and didn't require much thinking on the part of its audience...just your basic popcorn horror flick.
Quote from: The Creeper on May 13, 2012, 05:09:26 PM
I never understood Jaws the Revenge, did the shark call their travel agent to find out where they were going?
Haha, that's great I always say that! Did it find out their travel plans?? Just ridiculous.
I think in the upcoming JAWS 5, Quint gets the Robocop treatment and kicks some serious fish ass!
Quote from: BlackLagoon on May 13, 2012, 06:33:25 PMI think in the upcoming JAWS 5, Quint gets the Robocop treatment and kicks some serious fish ass!
Great Whites are a protected species now. RoboQuint's gonna get fined into oblivion, then the Sea Shepards will start hounding him, too!
JAWS is one of the greatest movies of all time. Period. NOT seeing a lot of the shark has helped it stand the test of time. The opening water skiing scene right through to Brody's discovery of a body in JAWS 2 was right up there with the material in the original. Then it just slides.
The idea that the town leaders and board members look at Martin Brody as a laughing stock in JAWS 2 is ridiculous. Mrs. Kitner would have castrated Larry Vaugh with her bare hands once she found out about HIS role in the denial/ coverups.
Chief Brody would be the flipping Grand Marshall at every parade Amity ever had with what he did in the 1st one alone-------and he's viewed as a looney instead? No. Then he kills a SECOND giant Great White that was threatening everybody's kids??? They would have approved an ordinance unanimously that Chief Brody was allowed to go sans pants on the island from then on and given him a photo license that allowed him to grope anyone's wife-------morning, noon and night.
I can still watch JAWS 2------but I curse at the screen. The rest I just can't. Especially the one with the shark who makes roars like SPOT from the freaking Munsters.
Quote from: Sean on May 14, 2012, 08:39:34 PMI can still watch JAWS 2------but I curse at the screen. The rest I just can't. Especially the one with the shark who makes roars like SPOT from the freaking Munsters.
"Jaws: The Revenge." The revenge was making an unwatchable piece of crap and putting "Jaws" in the title.
Quote from: Count_Zirock on May 14, 2012, 08:48:51 PM
"Jaws: The Revenge." The revenge was making an unwatchable piece of crap and putting "Jaws" in the title.
Who was the technical advisor on the shark in that movie!!? A 6 year old boy?
Quote from: Sean on May 14, 2012, 08:53:42 PM
Who was the technical advisor on the shark in that movie!!? A 6 year old boy?
I'm pretty sure it was the guy who came up with RoboQuint.
Wait a minute......
There are a number of things I liked about Jaws 2. When the shark eerily glides into the harbor and you can barely make out its outline was pretty ominous. When the guy was sort of parasailing going up and down in the water, that had some suspense and I was fairly certain it was going to get him. Then we see just a splash of fin after the sail takes him back up again. It riminds me of just how close we might come sometimes and "not" even know it. When the shark showed up in front of the divers, that was a good "jump" scene. I too liked how the shark was scarred and looked gruesome although the scene how he got that way was an amazing bumbling female screaming and panicing scene that annoyed me. She might have almost been "ok" if she just sat in the bottom of the boat in a fetal position like the girl did on the sail boat after her boyfriend became lunch. I did like that scene though. When he falls overboard after the boat being bumped and trying to swim agianst a current and with a shark on his trail then taking a chunk of the boat with him during his final pull under water. Good stuff. There were some good close calls and scrambles every time the shark attacked the sailboat mish mash. I stiill feel a jolt though when the shark takes the young girl who saved Brodiy's son. She was one of the bravest and least annoying of the teens so I felt bad she got the chomp. It would have been better to see one of the others get the chomp. We had such a good selection of truly annoying teens and yet they all survived.
I agree with many things said about the Mayor, Brody and the smuck hotel developer. I mean, they had to take idiot pills not to have made Brody the Mayor and hung the other guy up by his buster browns. I love the line though when Brody says, "don't tell me that is not a shark because I know what one looks like and seen it up close" or something to that effect. Great line.
Overall, I enjoy Jaws 2 for the most part. I felt a lot of suspense when Brody wades into the water to get the board with the burnt lady still attached. A real jump scene too. I have been in water like that too and with just a few steps you find yourself chest deep already.
There was a film called Jaws of Death with Richard Jaekel that I always thought was pretty good. However, that being said, keep in mind I saw it a long time ago so judged it on those standards. Not sure if it is one of those movies that "today" I would go "what the heck was I thinking".
I highly recomend "The Reef" Based on a true story. Great shark footage, all real. And the attack scenes are some of the best I have seen. Speaking of a great attack scene, watch "The Beach". Not a great film but the scene where three divers haul their friends ashore with a long streak of blood behind them and the chunks taken out of them from a great white attack are brilliant. There is also a good shark attack scene in the film Rapa Nui. Most likely the attack is from a Mako from the way they filmed it. Another good attack scene is the Tiger shark attack in Soul Surfer.
Back to the "Reef" film though. We know so much more about shark attacks now. A shark usualy bites first to wound prey then swims around while you bleed out before finishing you off. The Reef does that perfectly in several scenes. We also know that sharks usually test bite to see if you are something good to eat although with something the size of a great white that is little consolation that it did not intent to eat you.
I never liked the scene in Jaws 2 where it takes down the helo but it is well documented that sharks are attracted to the rhythmic vibrations of rotor blades. They pay homage to that scene in Lake Placid. I do think though the shark would have let go once it realized it had not bitten down on flesh and the helo would have stayed aloft. I always asked myself though why the helo just did not radio in the sailboats position and call for a Coast Guard cutter. Oh well, that would have made more sense and been less exciting I suppose.
(http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/526/1000379b.jpg)
The best thing about Jaws 2 was its stunner of a teaser poster. Just an ocean with an orange sunset (and I think) a fin sticking out of the water. With the greatest tag line evah: "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."
Rod
(http://chadwickhsaxelid.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c87f753ef0133f58f079a970b-500wi)
gnarly poster!
Quote from: Count_Zirock on May 21, 2012, 08:37:22 PM
(http://chadwickhsaxelid.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c87f753ef0133f58f079a970b-500wi)
Beautiful...and very effective!
Of course, we now know that the incident that inspired "Jaws," the shark attacks in Mattawan, NJ, involved a Bull Shark, not a Great White.
Quote from: Radioactive Rod Whitenack on May 18, 2012, 07:07:57 PM
(http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/526/1000379b.jpg)
Rod...you are very quietly becoming one of my favorite members here ;) . I don't know which cover I like better on that book, the front or the back! That is just great!
I've never felt the need to own a video/DVD of Jaws 2
but have the 2015 book about its production, published by
Bear Manor Media. The movie is usually shown on TV during
summertime along with the original and other sequels. I
just watched it again late last week. Yesterday four
cast members were live on stage at HorrorCon L.A., all
grown up >
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q70/923/mF2nLN.jpg)
'Only regret that "Tina" and "Lucy" couldn't be there too. Gawd, they were hot!
Quote from: neonnoodle on May 12, 2012, 11:12:27 PMI am always a sucker for monster-in-the-water pictures. Can be a plesiosaur, a shark, a squid, a gill-man, I love all that stuff.
So, I kinda enjoy this film. I don't think it's a great movie, seriously. It plays and feels like a very crude imitation of the first film--a banged-out quickie sequel, with everyone who returned from the first film getting paid well to show up and say "Hey! I'm here. it's me again!" However, you may note:
1. Monster in the water, makes many appearances and does scary things.
2. Monster actually rears up out of water and pulls down helicopter.
3. Monster uses victims in water as bait, to draw helicopter nearer.
It's awesome!
I don't care how bad a film is--if it has a shark pulling a helicopter into the water, it gets big popcorn points.
I barely remember Jaws II because I only really re-watch Jaws (the original), but now that you mention it, yeah. Silly as it may be, it was kind of a fun movie.
During the summer of 1977, I went to Florida to visit my sister for a week. She was living in Eglin, and her hubby was in the Air Force at the time. As it turned out, that summer, they were filming Jaws 2 on Navarre Beach which wasn't too far from where they lived. After lots of bugging, my sister and her hubby relented to take us to the Navarre Beach for the day. Universal had just gotten into town, and there were trailers and campers all surrounding a Holiday Inn. This was the Holiday Inn shown in the beginning of the movie with the ribbon cutting ceremony. Anyway, I really wanted to meet Roy Scheider and get his autograph, but he didn't arrive in Florida til a week after I went home. I took a Polaroid camera with me that day, but didn't know how to work it, and ruined almost every picture I took, but I did get two pics! I took a pic of a large, RC-controlled, motorized, shark fin that was used in some shots (I didn't even know this thing existed). I also got a pick of the JAWS 2 parking area (with sign). I also made off with a Holiday Inn doormat, LOL, which I still have to this day. I did see all the sailboats used by the kids in the movie. They were all docked on sand at the beachline. I have since read that they tore the Holiday Inn down long ago. Navarre Beach was just a tiny island strip that you accessed by a bridge. They show Roy Scheider riding over the bridge when he's heading to the party in the beginning of the movie. My 2 cents!
When you hear the stories about the production troubles and that was before they switched directors during filming. It's a miracle we got the movie we did.
Jeannot Szwarc deserves a lot of credit for making an enjoyable sequel to an impossible movie to follow up.