Jaws 2

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David F When I saw that Roy Scheider returned for this sequel, I decided to check it out. Yes, the mayor who didn’t want to close the beeches during the first Jaws even though everybody was getting eaten by a dangerous shark is still the mayor in this film. And this one does try to bring up some of the elements of a critique of capitalism that were present in the first film. It begins at the ribbon cutting for a new Holiday Inn on Amity so you know that promoting the tourist season is going to be a big part of this film. Unfortunately, it all devolves into a great big mess. Scheider is game but he is also a little unhinged in this film, not quite the conflicted police chief with a fear of the water who needed to confront that fear in order to do his job and make the beaches safe again. A lot of this film follows a group of teens who are kind of stranded at sea and in peril with a new shark looking to eat people. The climax where the shark bites into an undersea power cable almost lives up to the conclusion of the first film but mostly this is a dud. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/01/25 Full Review thiago s Filme mais ou menos, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são mais ou menos, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 06/23/25 Full Review Jacob G Jaws 2, while not as groundbreaking as its predecessor, delivers everything we’d expect from a blockbuster sequel: more kills, more action, and less exposition. This film cuts straight to the chase, revealing the lurking menace in the water of Amity Island without wasting any time. This distinguishes it from its predecessor, which prioritized concealing the shark for most of the runtime to generate shock value. However, there was no need to repeat this strategy in the sequel. By 1978, everyone was fully aware of the threat from the outset, so employing this method would have been unnecessary. Additionally, Jaws 2 boldly ventures into slasher territory, taking the suspense/thriller formula of the first film and updating it by turning the focus to Chief Brody’s sons and a group of neurotic, sail-hungry teenagers. The film also delves into deeper themes, particularly the struggles of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which has profoundly impacted Chief Brody after the traumatic event that shook his community years prior. It goes even deeper, diving into his paradoxical journey, where he simultaneously becomes the forgotten local hero of his town while striving to be a devoted father and husband to his family. It showcases remarkable emotional depth and honesty in its portrayal of mental illness, which is further amplified by Roy Scheider’s captivating and slightly unhinged performance. The other actors are commendable as well, particularly the teenage ensemble who deliver a handful of exceptionally convincing portrayals that maintain a comparable level of quality to those of the adult cast. Nonetheless, director Jeannot Szwarc understood the significance of crafting a worthy follow-up to Spielberg’s modern classic, and he arguably achieved that, despite the numerous challenges that plagued the film’s production behind the scenes. Alas, despite all the appraisals, Spielberg’s magic is noticeably absent from the project, which inevitably leads to a decline in quality. However, thanks to Szwarc’s skillful direction and keen attention-to-detail, the quality drop is relatively minimal. In retrospect, while Jaws 2 never reaches the heights of its seminal predecessor, it stands today as a criminally underrated sequel which deserves more love and appreciation than it receives. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/23/25 Full Review Jens B Why make the same movie again, only worse? Why do we need another human villain when the shark is there? Why is Chief Brody such a traumatized whiner who becomes an alcoholic within hours? Why does the shark look so much worse than in the first film? Why are 40 minutes in the middle of the film uneventful and boring – in the first film, this is where the adventure really began, while "Jaws 2" instead shows close-ups of Scheider's sad face? Why is the role of the teenagers so heavily built up when the focus isn't on them? Everything about this film is subpar; no one seemed to have any real desire to make it, and there's nothing outstanding about the craftsmanship either – only the boom boom occasionally hangs in full view of the frame. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 06/22/25 Full Review Justin W Jaws is a worthy continuity from the classic masterpiece, still pretty entertaining and in the collection of 50th anniversary. Of cos, the original is still the best! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/21/25 Full Review Matty D Jaws 2 may not be a perfect movie, but it comes close to being a near-perfect sequel to a classic and iconic blockbuster film. With a capable cast, including returning players Roy Scheider, Murray Hamilton, and Lorraine Gary, Jaws 2 explores the PTSD of Chief Martin Brody (Scheider) in an island town still recovering financially from a great white shark attack some years earlier. As the Mayor of Amity, Hamilton’s character seemingly has yet to learn his lesson when another rogue shark strikes Amity’s shores. That is until his son, alongside Chief Brody’s boys, and several other teenagers become the targets for the shark on the hunt while they are out sailing. The beats of the screenplay for this sequel are essentially the same as the first film, swapping out the trio in Act 2–Adventures at Sea—for a likable bunch of indistinguishable teens. This essentially turns the film into an early slasher before the slasher genre was popularized, only in the aquatic arena with a man eating shark, instead of a suburban or woodsy setting. There are several well-directed kill scenes that carry an emotional impact, mostly involving the teens. But this movie isn’t a paint-by-numbers, kill-them-all kind of affair. Since the teens are likable, you’ll be rooting for their collective survival and guessing who makes it out of the water alive. If only this sequel wasn’t so determined to repeat many of the beats from the first film, it could have really stood on its own two legs as a classic in its own right. But the shark’s death scene and the overall effect of Act 1 echo Spielberg’s work too closely, so Jaws 2 ends up owing much of its perfected craftsmanship to its predecessor. Regardless, Jaws 2 is a staple of 70s cinema and every bit as fun as the original. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/16/25 Full Review Read all reviews

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