Jaws 2 - Reception

Reception

Jaws 2 was the most expensive film that Universal had produced up until that point, costing the studio almost $30 million. The film grossed 45% of the original, not adjusted for inflation. Despite this, the film became the highest-grossing sequel in history at that point, succeeded by the release of Rocky II in 1979. It opened in 640 theaters to a $9,866,023 gross, ranking first. The domestic gross for its first release was $77,737,272, making it the seventh highest domestic grossing film of 1978. It eventually surpassed the $100 million mark with further reissues, with a final gross of $102,922,376. It was also the third highest grossing movie worldwide in 1978 with $187,884,007. Its current worldwide gross stands at $208,900,376, so that it stayed on Variety's list of top ten box office hits of all time until the mid-nineties.

Jaws 2 inspired much more merchandising and sponsors than the first film. Products included sets of trading cards from Topps and Baker's bread, paper cups from Coca-Cola, beach towels, a souvenir program, shark tooth necklaces, coloring and activity books, and a model kit of Brody's truck. A novelization by Hank Searls, based on an earlier draft of the screenplay by Sackler and Tristan, was released, as well as Ray Loynd's The Jaws 2 Log, an account of the film's production.

The film has met with mixed reviews, though it is generally regarded as the best of the Jaws sequels. John Kenneth Muir comments that opinions towards Jaws 2 depend upon which side of the franchise it is being compared. Against Spielberg's original, "it is an inferior sequel to a classic", but the reviewing the subsequent films Jaws 3-D and Jaws the Revenge shows the Szwarc's film to be "a decent sequel, and one produced before the franchise hit troubled waters." Jaws 2, he says, is "at the deep end of the pool, better than its two shallow follow ups, and there is enough of Jaws' lingering greatness floating about to make it an entertaining and exciting two hours."

On the film's Rotten Tomatoes listing, 53% of critics gave the film positive reviews from a total of 19 reviews. DVD Authority says "After this one, the other Jaws movies seemed to just not be as good. One review says: "it's obviously not a patch on Spielberg's classic, but it's about as good as could be hoped for, with some excellent sequences, almost worthy of the original, several genuine shocks, a different enough story and some pretty decent characters." The performances of Scheider, Gary and Hamilton are particularly praised. George Morris for the Texas Monthly preferred Jaws 2 over the original because it is "less insidious in its methods of manipulation" and "because director Jeannot Szwarc streamlines the terror ... By crosscutting among the teenagers, Scheider, and the officials' efforts to rescue them, Szwarc works up enough suspense to keep the adrenaline going." However, Morris' review is not entirely complimentary. He would have preferred the shark to have been seen less, positing "producers and audiences alike seem to have forgotten that the greatest suspense derives from the unseen and the unknown, and that the imagination is capable of conceiving far worse than the materialization of a mere mechanical monster." Similarly, John Simon felt that the "shark's waning is caused by a decline in direction: Jeannot Szwarc has none of Steven Spielberg's manipulative cleverness. For one thing, he allows us close and disarming close-ups of the shark almost immediately..." A reviewer for the BBC complained that the additional screen time awarded to the shark makes it "seems far less terrifying than its almost mystical contemporary". The Radio Times was not pleased with Jaws 2, calling it a "pale imitation of the classic original" and stating that "the suspense comes unglued because the film floats in all-too-familiar waters. You just know how everyone is going to react — from the stars to the director, and even the mechanical shark."

Although many critics identify some flaws, often comparing Szwarc negatively to Spielberg, they say that "this sequel does have some redeeming qualities going for it that make it a good movie in its own right". The presence of Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw are missed, especially since the teenage characters are labeled "largely annoying 'Afterschool Special' archetypes" who are "irritating and incessantly screaming" and "don't make for very sympathetic victims". Because of its emphasis upon the teenage cast some critics have compared the film to the slasher films that were rising in popularity at that time. Also comparing the film's "interchangeable teens to slasher films, particularly the Friday the 13th franchise, Muir says that "it feels wrong for a Jaws film to dwell in that shallow domain." However, Muir commends the teen characters' comradeship and heroism, citing the girl killed when saving Sean from the shark.

The film's tagline, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...", has become one of the most famous in film history. Andrew J. Kuehn, who developed the trailer for the original Jaws, is credited with coining the phrase. It has been parodied in numerous films; most notably the tagline of the 1996 feature film adaptation of the television series, Flipper, "This summer it's finally safe to go back in the water."