After having avoided it for decades this past week I finally
sat down and watched Jaws 2. The sad truth is that I have seen Jaws 3 several
times because in my teenage years it was an HBO staple and therefore
unavoidable. I still chuckle at the inanities in that third film but I feel no
desire to revisit it. With Jaws 2 I stayed away completely because I just
assumed that it was terrible. After all, Jaws was such an amazingly well done
popcorn film - so entertaining, so energetic, so well-crafted, so well acted
and just so good on every level that there was no way any sequel could possibly
measure up. And now that I've seen the film I was right. Jaws 2 is nowhere near
as good as the first film. But it's also not a terrible film. In fact, it's a
pretty good film and that was a surprise. The director smartly chooses to ape
Spielberg's style to match the look and feel of the previous film but I do
think that the first hour could have been trimmed down a little to move things
along. I enjoyed the last hour or so of the film and was impressed with the
structuring of the suspense as well as the pacing. Jaws 2 isn't a great film
but it's a solid thriller and I'm glad I finally caught it.
Oh! And as a bonus thrill I noticed from the advertising art
that this is the film that put one of the great movie catchphrases into the
vernacular - 'Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water'. That
and a zillion half-assed humorous variations got worn out by people for years
after the film was a dim memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment