Jaws The Revenge
When it comes to picking the worst sequels in the same franchise, some varying factors need to be considered such as: What is more faithful to the spirit of the classic original film? What has the better actors and performances? Which one is easier to sit through as being cheesy fun as opposed to a boring slog? When it comes to THIS particular 1987 sequel and its also maligned predecessor from 1983 (Jaws 3D), this one actually manages to check all of the right boxes in play in order to (slightly) emerge as being the better and more entertaining of the two, not just in atmosphere and acting, but also for a chaotic and haphazard preproduction and location shoot that saw several story elements and even aspects of its climax jumbled around including two separate (depending on which version you watch) and distinct death scenes for its titular shark and a character who literally dies in one version yet survives in another! That along with some laughable technical and continuity glitches (the rarest kind of movie mistake which shows just how much the director was asleep at the wheel) firmly places this one in the sometimes revered âso bad itâs goodâ category, a reputation which it earned immediately upon release and even became cannon fodder for the repertoire of several stand up comedians at that time (including no less than Johnny Carson himself). The main idea presented here to its full potential (and only hinted at in the earlier sequels) is that after the destruction of the original Great White Shark at the hands of Roy Scheiderâs Police Chief Brody in Part 1, a number of other sharks (or possibly reincarnations of the original) have now made it a specific point of revenge to target Brody himself (in Jaws 2) and his family, literally carrying a motive within its own self to attack, kill and eat as many members of this family as possible which includes knowing exactly when and where a Brody family member would be on the water at any given time. How and why such a thing could occur is probably better left unexplained (although the oft rewritten script for this particular sequel at one time featured a voodoo practitioner with his own motive for revenge on The Brodys who had successfully summoned the shark to carry out his own will) but one thing for sure is that Roy Scheider himself was not going anywhere near this project, vigorously turning down even a mere cameo that would have seen him get killed and eaten in the opening scene. Hence, itâs explained early on that Chief Brody had passed away from a heart attack in the intervening years, leaving the lead role honors here to Lorraine Gary (coming out of retirement after a 8 year hiatus and never to act again afterwards) as his now widowed wife Ellen, and interestingly Gary in some ways almost deserves a free pass from any harsh criticism for being on hand here, serving as a legitimate connection from the first (and second) film where she had shared an easy and relaxed chemistry with Scheider as her husband. But the worst is yet to come for her when we learn that her youngest son Sean (who still lives with her) is now a deputy on the Amity Island PD as well as being engaged to a cute, young, blonde Islander. This recipe for disaster is ultimately consummated when Deputy Sean (Mitchell Anderson) goes out on the water to remove a log that is jamming into one of the local buoys and the shark (who had obviously placed it there in order to set him up and draw him out) suddenly attacks. And poor Sean Brody not only dies a horrible death as a result, but he SUFFERS an intensely painful one as well, having his arm immediately ripped off with plenty of time being given for him to let THAT sink in as his boat is then capsized and he goes down screaming like a 12 year old girl before heâs turned into a giant blood omelette and pulled underwater. Naturally, Ellen Brody immediately comes to the (correct) conclusion that the shark deliberately and purposely targeted her son and even rationalizes that the same shark had âcausedâ her husbandâs fatal heart attack because he had lived in constant fear and anxiety that one day the shark would return (it appears that the shark is also capable of causing lucid nightmares as well which results in several characters waking up in a cold sweat). Ellen smartly realizes that with Christmas coming up in simple, tourist deprived Amity Island, sheâs better off skipping town in order to join her oldest son Michael (The Last Starfighterâs Lance Guest, taking over from Dennis Quaidâs coked up and overly panicky interpretation of the character in Part 3) in The Bahamas, now a respected marine biologist with a cute wife (Karen Young, who ironically would later play Roy Scheiderâs love interest in 1990âs Night Game) and an even cuter little girl (Judith Barsi, arguably the most tragic of all child stars whom after playing Ducky in Land Before Time was brutally shotgun murdered at age 10 by her coward of a father whom instead of being proud of his little girl who was pulling in $100,000 a year from her acting career, was actually insanely jealous enough to the point where he killed her, her mother and then turned the gun on himself rather than face justice) along with a relaxing, comfortable environment tempered by the reassuring fact that a Great White wouldnât come down that way because the water is too warm for it to withstand. But alas, the shark that killed poor little Sean hasnât finished his mission yet, turning up during one of Michaelâs expeditions which gives him quite a bit of pause, even as his fellow marine biologist (Mario Van Peebles seemingly in his own world here, or at least his own movie) idiotically decides that itâs in their best interest to not only track the creature, but also not to tell anybody about it so that poor Mrs. Brody doesnât wind up going completely ballistic, a bad proposition since sheâs starting to feel better now while having a budding relationship with a local pilot played by Michael Caine. And if THAT doesnât make you sit up and take notice, keep in mind that the legendary Caine made no apologies for this being one of his infamous âpaycheckâ roles, later admitting that he never even saw the movie because he had heard it was âterribleâ, but also admitting that the house which it had paid for was âterrificâ. Caine also notoriously missed out on attending the Academy Awards ceremony where he won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor because he was on location for this movie and couldnât get away to attend, but he would later concede that the shoot was a lovely holiday for him either way. Caineâs Hoagie is given the chance to charm The Widow Brody, have some roguish intrigue with the implied possibility that his piloting career involves running drugs amongst other things and then finally be able to swoop in towards the end so that he can play last minute hero even while getting knocked into the water but still climbing aboard the boat with a dry shirt on (that plus the sight of an African American character being eaten only for an underwater shot right afterwards revealing an obviously WHITE stuntman are the two most celebrated gaffes here). What makes this so fascinating from a bad movie standpoint is that when you set aside the idea of there being an evil shark with a motive and a gameplan, the best scenes are actually the various character interaction moments which are not clouded by hysteria over a shark who is targeting specific people, most notably by Guest who commendably breaks free from his Starfighter persona to play Michael Brody as being a character who is still noticeably haunted by his past encounters with sharks, but with better hints of subtlety than Quaidâs more over the top performance, reluctantly going along with Van Peeblesâ plans to track the creature all while knowing itâs a mistake especially when the shark goes for more Brody family members on the water with an almost homing beam like precision. And in the end, itâs Ellen who must face it down for the last time, even as the filmmakers canât help but reuse old footage of Scheider as Brody in order to put forth the idea that her late husband is somehow âwith herâ in spirit. But thatâs the difference between Steven Spielbergâs untouchable 1975 classic and this goofy B movie followup made 12 years later which concluded the series on a rather good natured note (although the movie itself is played deadly serious) and at least benefited from having both quality actors and finally an unabashed embrace of the ludicrous premise which the previous films had only hinted atâŠ
5/10