Jaws 2 (1978) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Jeannot Swarzc

Starring:  Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Jeffrey Kramer, Mark Gruner, Keith Gordon, Marc Gilpin

Jaws 2 is a passably entertaining sequel to Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic.    It is probably as good a sequel as could have been made considering the absences of Spielberg, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss.    It is unfair to expect anything close to the mastery of Jaws, but Jaws 2 gives an effort, and the tagline of "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water," is brilliant.   

Jaws 2 picks up some time after the events of Jaws and centers again on Amity Island police chief Martin Brody (Scheider), who once again has to deal with a series of shark attacks and the unwillingness of the town's politicians to address the problem.     There is no Quint or Hooper around to assist Brody, so he takes matters into his own hands.     He becomes a vigilante shark killer, if you will.     Brody's two sons become targets of the shark, which almost takes on the human qualities of a serial killer.    Is the shark a relative of the one Brody blew to smithereens in the first film?  

It would be semi-understandable for the town powers-that-be to try and dissuade the notion of a shark, if the same thing didn't happen all that long ago.    I am amazed the town isn't bankrupted by lawsuits.  But, there is Amity's mayor (Hamilton) asking everyone to be reasonable in the face of overwhelming evidence of another shark feasting on swimmers.   

Jaws 2 is more interested in becoming what Jaws wasn't, which is a slasher film with a shark instead of a human doing all the killing.    It isn't interested in creating suspense, but instead documenting the various shark attacks and then waiting until Brody kills the thing in a one-on-one showdown.     You would think the visitors to Amity Island would stay out of the water on their own once word of the shark got out, but nope.    Jaws 2 gives us more views of the shark than its predecessor.    Spielberg was forced to do so out of necessity since the mechanical shark kept breaking down.    However, Spielberg used his genius to suggest the shark's presence, such as the bobbing yellow barrels and the ominous John Williams score.   

The movie is skillfully made with Scheider ably taking center stage as the shark-weary Brody, who got more than he bargained for when he moved to Amity Island from the streets of New York City.   He is a formidable foe for the shark, but I must say I missed Quint and Hooper tagging along.