Jaws Franchise (1975 - 1987) REVISIT

What do you say about the film that was the first real "summer blockbuster," launched the career of one of the most successful film makers of all time, and scared a generation out of the water? It changed the way we experienced movies and holds up as one of American Cinema's best. It is horror and spectacle and drama and commentary on the state of America all at the time and, remarkably, what it says remains true today. Its exploration of masculinity, nationalism, and capitalism is both astute and prescient.  

Here's my one hot take on what is relatively a perfect film; the third act goes on too long. This is also the section where you see the most of the famously disastrous shark prop which drags it down a bit. But other than that Jaws is rock sold.

There is a lot in Jaws that pushes the boundaries. I remember being shocked when I first say it that one of the most centred shark attacks is on a young child. It is extremely powerful, scary, and effecting because we don't see children be victims in these movies. That's often too much for audiences. But Jaws goes there.

Up to this point summer hadn't been a time when movie studios released their big films, assuming audiences were travelling or focusing on other activities than movies. But Jaws changed all that, turning the season into a time when the biggest, most exciting films were released. It is also the example that sets the cliche about sequels being worse than the original. Unfortunately the legacy of this film never does live up to this classic, although I'd argue the follow ups aren't as bad as legend has it. The genre Jaws inspired doesn't fare well either. Few shark movies end up being very good and usually are cheap B-movies enjoyed for their camp factor. 

But none of that takes away from the fact that Jaws is a brilliant and always entertaining film. It is very much a film of its time but also a film that holds up and remains watchable even to this day. In my opinion Spielberg has made even better films since this but it showed that he was a real talent who would go on to change cinema as we know it. 

Jaws

Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Writers: Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb

The first sequel to Jaws follows the more-of-the-same-to-a-bigger-degree theory of sequels. Relatively close story to the first but with more shark attacks. Unlike Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park Spielberg wouldn't return to this series. Instead Szwarc steps in with an exploration of PTSD themes as Brody struggles with seeing sharks everywhere. Some feel this makes the film a bit of a Vietnam movie, a metaphor for the experience of surviving and coming back from war.  He balances delivering more of the thrills people wanted from the first with making his story about something. 

To be clear 2 doesn't reach the narrative or film making heights of the first film but I still find it interesting enough to be watchable and thought provoking. The character development outside of Brody himself is slim to none and the climax doesn't have the same catharsis the first offered. 2 is a more gruesome film, upping the gore factor which has both its plusses and minuses. It feels a bit like a proto-slasher film mixing in that genre's tropes (teens being attacked after sexual escapades for example) despite the genre not being fully formed yet as it would be subsequently in films like the Halloween series. It relies more on the horror tension than on the underlying dread of the first film. 2 does seem stuck in trying to emulate the first but never achieving the same glory. But this is the plight of quite a few sequels of the era and beyond. As far as sequels go it's not terrible and genuinely quite watchable. 

Jaws 2

Starring: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Joseph Mascolo, Jeffrey Kramer, Mark Gruner, Ann Dusenberry, Marc Gilpin

Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Howard Sackler

The third Jaws film was part of a wave of threequels that took advantage of the of-the-moment trend of re-emerging 3D. What does it have going for it? It embraces its B-movie sensibilities and doesn't try, like the previous film sort of does, to be another masterpiece like Jaws. It just tries to be a fun movie about a shark eating people and doing so in exciting 3-D. 

But this is where it falls down. The 3-D isn't well executed and includes a lot of body parts floating towards the audience and a really bad scene of a shark breaking through plated glass that just looks terrible. The film is often called Jaws 3 when in formats that don't allow the 3-D elements to be utilized but you can still tell as its obvious when something is supposed to jump out at you although usually it looks fairly unreal. 

And it falls down in that Jaws 3 mostly fails in trying to have fun. There are many shark attack moments which could have been deliciously gory and the film rarely even has the shark successfully attack anyone.  The film doesn't deliver on the campy scares that it should with characters often just barely escaping. Jaws 3 never develops its characters (the Brody sons who are now on their own to fight great whites) in any interesting way. There is no life lesson to be learned here. But a young coked out Dennis Quaid looks really good as does a young Lea Thompson. That might be the only redeeming feature in Jaws 3-D or Jaws 3.

But I will give it props for eschewing the sort of sexism and racism that one would expect from a movie of this caliber and era. The film has fairly progressive ideas about women's roles in movies and in subverting our expectations of people of colour. Films made long after this are often fairly egregious in their exploitation and the Jaws series, including this film, remarkably tell a fairly "woke" story.  

Jaws 3

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Lea Thompson, John Putch

Director: Joe Alves

Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Richard Matheson

Jaws the Revenge was the first Jaws film I ever saw. As a child it was one of the first "horror" films I ever saw and I remember feeling brave to be able to watch it. I could handle Jaws the Revenge which I remember enjoying as a young kid probably due to it being accessible enough for me. But then I had never revisited it until now. 

I was happy to say it holds up well. This film doesn't really deserve the hate it gets. Films often have a narrative created for them in media that perpetuates regardless of the film itself and everyone just piles on. The Revenge is one of those films for sure. It really isn't terrible. In fact it can be quite interesting. 

It's about a middle age woman being gaslighted by those around her, and perhaps even having her sexuality controlled, who takes control and becomes the hero of the story. People harp on the fish coming back from the dead plot but really the film never confirms this outright. In my watch I see Ellen being paranoid, I mean who wouldn't be after such trauma, and perhaps seeing connections where there aren't any, but then taking control and becoming the hero. 

Sure the film isn't perfect. It's a bit on the cheap and rushed side but what is here is no worse than most big budget sequels of today and their absurdist plot lines. The Revenge has some nice call backs and tie ins to the first film providing some nice resolution of the entire story. Overall while not brilliant it's a fun film and one that I think is unfairly maligned. 

Also it's another film you can add to your annual Christmas rewatch due to its holiday season setting. 

Jaws the Revenge
Starring: Michael Caine, Lorraine Gary, Mario Van Peebles, Lance Guest, Roy Scheider 

Director: Joseph Sargent

Writer: Michael de Guzman