Review of Jaws 2 (1978) by Robin W — 09 Jun 2009

When this movie came out, pointless sequels to monster blockbuster hits were not quite as common or inevitable as they would eventually become, but the big mistake of this particular sequel was that it made an ill-advised decision to cash in on a genre that was starting to gain popularity at the time: the teen slasher film.

The main focus of the shark attacks in "Jaws 2" are a large (and I mean LARGE) group of annoying teenagers (most of whom survive, unfortunately), and needless to say, they are a poor substitute for Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw; poor Roy Scheider is pretty much reduced to going through the same old routine of once again trying the convince the brain-dead city officials that there is a shark problem.

The movie doesn't seem horrible in retrospect since it's still a vast improvement over the awful "Jaws" sequels that were to follow it, but it has really aged badly and the stupidity of the characters makes the whole thing more unintentionally funny than anything else; the standout scene has to be when the shark attacks a girl in a boat, who spills gasoline on herself and then decides that firing a FLARE GUN is the best course of action!