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Cast: Roy Scheider (Chief Martin Brody), Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody), Murray Hamilton (Mayor Larry Vaughn), Joseph Mascolo (Len Peterson), Jeffrey Kramer (Deputy Hendricks), Various attractive teenagers (Shark Bait)

Synopsis

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water, sequelitis attacks. "Jaws 2" was released in 1978 to a tepid audience reacton. It still managed to break the $100 million barrier, making it a rousing success. The movie picks up 4 years after "The Troubles", the name that Amity has given to the original shark and resulting carnage from "Jaws". The movie opens with 2 guys diving off Amity, and they come upon the wreckage of the Orca (from the original film). Unbeknownst to them, something else is lurking in the water with them, and it makes short work of the divers (but not before one of them snaps a picture of it, an important plot point for later). We cut to Chief Brody, late for a dedication ceremony at the new Amity Hotel. You see, a tycoon developer, Len Peterson, has staked a claim on Amity. He's decided that the time is ripe for turning Amity into a resort town, and is pumping money into the community. The locals are happy, and with the 4th of July coming soon, they see prosperity returning to the town. However, a new, bigger shark has arrived and is about to open up shop. The divers' boat is found with no one aboard. A water skier disappears and her driver, in a panic, blows up the boat. The chief begins to suspect that something is up, and his suspicions are confirmed when he finds a half-eaten whale on the beach. When he approaches the mayor, however, he is met with skepticism and the warning "don't push it this time." Meanwhile, the chief's son Michael is now a teenager, and he and his buddies love nothing more than sailing the days away, a fact that worries the chief. Brody patrols the beach for the shark that he believes is out there, and throws the beach into a panic when he sees a dark shadow approaching some swimmers. When the shadow is revealed to be nothing but a school of bluefish, the town council begins to question whether Brody is losing it. Meanwhile, the camera that the divers used is salvaged and the film developed (gotta love that continuity). The picture reveals what Brody!

feared

most (part of the eye and the snout of a huge shark). He takes the picture to the town council, but they refuse to go along with him, and instead fire him. Michael and his buddies decide to go sailing, even after the Chief has forbidden it, and now the race is on to see who will get to the kids first: The chief, or the Ultimate Killing Machine II. Who lives and who dies? Guess you'll have to buy the DVD to find out.

DVD Details

The picture is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Again, since I don't have a 16 X 9 TV, then I had to use the trusty Hitachi 4:3 50 incher. The picture looks crystal clear, pretty much on par with the picture that was exhibited on the "Jaws" DVD. There are not that many night scenes, and the dark scenes (notably the kids in the bar the night before they go out) looked pretty sharp, with few pixels floating around. It's a big improvement over the original Jaws 2 videotape, which tended to be very jittery and not very color-correct. The biggest improvement is in the fleshtones, which on the original videotape tended to lean towards orange. Here on the DVD they look natural. The soundtrack is mixed in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, which was a little diappointing. I mean, I know that J2 had the stigma of being labeled "an inferior sequel", but a 2.0 Surround presentation would have been nice, since I would at least like to have heard the sound decoded in Pro Logic as opposed to just the front 2 channels. 5.1 would have been pushing it. French Subtitles.

DVD Extras

Now here was where I EXPECTED to be disappointed, but instead was pleasantly surprised. Considering the advance promos indicated that this was a "Widescreen Edition" as opposed to Jaws' "Collector's Edition", I didn't expect there to be much on the disc in the way of extras. Instead, we get a new one hour documentary on the making of "Jaws 2", complete with interviews with director Jeannot Szwarc (a very likeable fellow), producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown, and some of the cast and crew. We get lots of production drawings and behind-the-scenes photos. We also get a featurette, "Jaws: A Portrait by Actor Keith Gordon", which has Gordon (Doug) talk about what the actors had to go through to prepare for their roles, as well as some obscure behind-the-scenes information that you would probably not be able to find anywhere unless it was one of the actors talking about it. A nice touch there. 2 Trailers are included, with James Earl Jones doing the voiceover. A shark trivia section is included. Then, one of the coolest extras, a featurette with John Williams commenting on the music of Jaws 2. It's not often that you find an interview with Mr. Williams, and it speaks volumes about the pride that he has in the score for this film when he takes the time to sit down and talk about it. A deleted scenes section, cast & crew filmographies and a little joke about the promotion for Jaws 2 in French round out the extras.

The Final Word

Well, this one is tough. I've always liked Jaws 2, and never believed that it was as bad as the critics made it out to be. Definitely lending an air of inferiority to the film was the fact there was no Robert Shaw (who had passed away), no Richard Dreyfuss and no Steven Spielberg (who were working on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"). But Jeannot Szwarc came into a difficult situation (the original director had been fired and cast & crew morale was low) and made lemonade out of lemons, turning out a film that had to try to be as good as the original. I believe he came very close. Considering the astronimical pressure he must have had from Universal, and from the weight of following in Steven Spielberg's footsteps, that's admirable. Is it better than Jaws? No. But is it good enough to warrant a look? I think so. My rating (in sharks):

Story: 2.5 sharks

Picture: 4.5 sharks

Sound: 2 sharks

Extras: 5 sharks

George Noriega Jr.