JAWS 2

[BlackLagoon]

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?? 

[Count_Zirock]

"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"!

[neonnoodle]

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.

[Count_Zirock]

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.

And now they catch airplanes, too!

[BlackLagoon]

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.

[neonnoodle]

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...

[Count_Zirock]

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!

[neonnoodle]

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!"

[charp13]

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??

[Paul L]

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.

[neonnoodle]

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!

[Count_Zirock]

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!

[neonnoodle]

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!

[The Creeper]

I never understood Jaws the Revenge, did the shark call their travel agent to find out where they were going? 

[lblambert]

"Jaws: The Revenge," is like a Uwe Boll movie, it's so bad.

Best description of Jaws 4 ever!