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Dom Robinson reviews

Jaws 2

Distributed by

Cert:
Cat.no: 902 597 2
Running time: 111 minutes
Year: 1978
Pressing: 2001
Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
Chapters: 20 plus extras
Sound: Mono
Languages: English, German
Subtitles: 7 languages available
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
16:9-enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: £17.99
Extras: Trailers, Featurettes, The French Joke, Deleted Scenes, Storyboards, Production Photographs

Director:

Jeannot Szwarc

Bug, Enigma, Grand Larceny, Jaws 2, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Night of Terror, Santa Claus: The Movie, Supergirl, TV: Kojak, The Six Million Dollar Man

Producer:
Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown

Screenplay:
Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler

Original Score :

John Williams

Cast :

Martin Brody: Roy Scheider
Ellen Brody: Lorraine Gary
Mayor Vaughan: Murray Hamilton
Peterson: Joseph Mascolo
Hendricks: Jeffrey Kramer

Four years have passed since the original when Jaws 2 begins.

Yet again, little by little Brody (Roy Scheider) begins to suspect that a great white shark is on the prowl at Amity Beach when people start dying mysteriously and a whale turns up on the beach with a huge bite taken out of it. Sadly it takes the odd embarrassing mishap for him, such as clearing a beach full of bathers by a false alarm of a suspected reappearance by the shark and the use of a gun into the water, before he's finally proved right and says goodbye to it with an electrifying experience. a

Sadly, Spielberg was not around for this sequel and also gone has much of the suspense. Fans of the first should definitely take a look at this but don't expect the best film ever made. Also gone are are the characters who made the first film so entertaining - Quint, who was killed by the original shark, as well as the actor Robert Shaw who played him and who died in 1978 of a heart attack at the mere age of 51, plus Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), the shark expert from the Oceanographic Institute, who only appears in character name only when he phones up to return Brody's call, but speaks to Ellen because Brody's out.

Lorraine Gary plays Brody's wife again and Murray Hamilton returns as the doubting Mayor Vaughan. Perhaps the only reason this sequel is watchable is the reappearance of many of the principal cast members.

Go ahead, shark. Make my day!

The picture ratio is quoted on the back of the box as 16:9, but it's 2.35:1. At least they've got it right stating it's anamorphic. For its age, the picture looks pretty good with some print damage that doesn't get in the way too much. At least Szwarc knows how to fill the frame well.

Sadly, no-one bothered to remaster the sound. It's in mono for both English and German and sounds muffled in places. What a disappointment.

# "We don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn...
Burn motherfucker!" #

The extras begin well with a 46-minute Making Of featurette which takes in chat from various main crew members and tells us that Spielberg would have nothing to do with the sequel and even original "Jaws 2" director John Hancock (who he?) was dumped in favour of French director Jeannot Szwarc whose career hasn't exactly been action-packed. Also mentioned was the thought of making a feature-length story about Quint's "U.S.S. Indianapolis" story from the first film, but this was dropped in favour of returning to Amity Beach with Brody and his family.

Shorter featurettes of around 8 minutes in length are also included looking at actor Keith Gordon and composer John Williams who jumped ship after this sequel.

There are four Deleted Scenes in 2.35:1 non-anamorphic widescreen, all rather pointless, one showing Brody giving his wife's boss, Peterson, a parking ticket, a second showing Brody getting home after another shark experience, a third with Peterson, the mayor and others making a decision on Brody's shark suspections and one of the shark attacking the Harbour Patrol helicopter pilot after sinking underwater.

How we laughed at the 78-seconds it took the French director to tell the French Joke in which, after the first film was called "Les Dents De La Mer", they couldn't call the sequel "Les Dents De La Mer Deux" since "mer deux" is an adjective related to "merde" which is "shit", so they get round it by calling it "Les Dents De La Mer 2me Partie", i.e. the 2nd Part.

Storyboards are included for where the shark attacks Doug's boat, the helicopter, a water skier, the Production Photographs cover the cast, the film's marketing including poster concepts, production and the shark itself. There are two trailers for Jaws 2 (3½ mins and 4mins) and teaser trailers for Jaws 3-D (90 seconds) and Jaws: The Revenge (60 seconds).

There are 20 chapters to the film so it could use a few more, the menus are static and silent and subtitles come in 7 languages: English for the deaf and hard of hearing, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish.

Cover

Cover

Cover

Cover

The four films. The four DVDs. The four reviews.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.

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