(1978) ****In Jaws 3-D, Sean Brody is uncomfortable near open water and refuses to step into it. In Jaws 2, we get a clear look at his face the moment that fear dawns. He's clinging to the battered hull of a capsized sailboat. He's completely alone there -- his companions are uncrossable yards away, screaming in terror. Moments earlier, young Sean had company: a heroic teenage girl who had dived from the safety of her own sailboat to haul Sean out of the water. Now she's being chewed to a pulp by a massive Great White and Sean is looking directly into the shark's mouth, watching her get pulpier and more shapeless every time those jaws open.
He's paralyzed for some time after that, his arms clamped around the upturned sailboat's centerboard. He can hear his teenaged chaperones calling to him, throwing ropes to haul him closer to the rest of the group. But -- like 13 year old Octopunk bolted to the center of his bed, rigid with fear of the maniacal Zuni warrior -- to reach any part of himself over the water is to expose himself to terminal danger.
One of the teen boys gets Sean moving by threatening to kick Sean's ass if he doesn't comply. Sean responds to that motivation and as he gets pulled onto the pile of crashed boats with the rest of his group, the threatening teen pulls Sean close, kissing him on the cheek, gasping, "We thought we lost you, boy." Off to the side, one of the girls kneels, praying to Jesus for rescue, her voice barren, sober, desperate.
It's gestures like this that make Jaws 2 more than simply a worthy sequel. It's about more than just shark attacks. It's a story of courage, much like the first one, but that courage is perhaps more poignant here because it's coming from people so young. These teens have no idea whether they're going to make it out of this alive, any of them. In these maybe last moments, they rise and become lions -- cornered and frightened, but quick-thinking, quick-moving, and fiercely protective of their own.
The teens are all played by, believe it or not, actual teens. In at least one scene, involving G. Thomas Dunlop and Keith Gordon (who followed this with solid performances in Christine, The Legend of Billie Jean, and Back to School -- he also wrote the script for the underappreciated A Midnight Clear), the teens were permitted to write their own dialogue.
In a DVD interview, Gordon reveals that in the months spent on set, the teen actors partied a lot and had lots of sex. Their off-camera camraderie translates incredibly well onscreen. They bicker, they play pranks on each other, and when they're attacked, their concern for one another is obvious and genuine. It's this youthful sincerity that really makes Jaws 2 fly.
9 comments:
You son of a beeyotch! I wasn't 13 when the Zuni warrior freaked me out! I was 11, tops! You bastard.
Great review. I'd forgotten that "it's an island" line was in the sequel.
YES! The return of the Zuni warrior taunts! Really the funniest part of Horrorthon '06 from my perspective.
Although I definitely shared Octo's fear of that little guy. (But I had more reason to, seeing as I was only 8, tops.)
I would also like to join in the laughter at Octo's expense.
Damn, ****1/2!? I really need to take another look at it.
yeah, i was really surprised how into it i was. maybe it's an illusory effect brought on by watching the fourth film first -- it may have been a star or so more brilliant by comparison.
You know, I never saw this (although I read the novelization, as discussed) so I just never had any idea it was so good.
I'm not that big of a fan of the original Jaws but it fits in perfectly with the point I made in my The Exorcist review about '70s filmmakers making their bones on schlock bestsellers. Just like The Godfather, Jaws was
• A schlock bestselling novel, optioned before publication by a studio
• Given to a young director who'd only made one or two other features (Dementia 13 and The Rain People by Coppola; The Sugarland Express by Spielberg)
• The most successful movie ever made up to that date
It makes you appreciate Lucas even more, since All three of his 'Seventies features (THX-1138, American Graffitti, Star Wars) are completely original works. (On the other hand, he stopped directing for twenty-two years after that.)
Continuing the point: Coppola's later career justifies his comment (at the time) that he "doesn't even like" crime movies; ditto Spielberg and bloody horror stories. In each case, we've got this great phenomenon of a director clearly thinking, "I'm brilliant, and this is my big chance, so I've got to film this goddamned schlock potboiler novel and really give it my all, so that everyone realizes how great I am and I become free to do the work I really want to do like Apocalypse Now or E.T."
can you think of anyone on the modern landscape, younger, who fits into that category? someone who had to do a bang-up job on a grin-and-bear-it flick before moving on to what they really wanted to be doing?
Sure:
1) J. J. Abrams doing Mission: Impossible III
2) David Fincher doing Alien 3
3) Neil Jordan doing Interview With the Vampire
3) John Woo doing Broken Arrow (not quite the same, admittedly)
Anyone want to pitch in? I never thought about this before.
Actually, Abrams and Fincher are the only examples that genuinely fit the point, since MI:III (Don't those abbreviations just give you an adrenaline rush that makes you want to see the movie and excitedly refer to it by the abbreviation with your friend? Like ID4) (NOT) and Alien 3 are both first features.
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