Jaws: The Revenge (C- or 2/4 stars)
Jaws (1975)? Incredible. Jaws 2 (1978)? Surprisingly stellar. Jaws 3D (1983)? Eh, has its moments. And now 'Jaws: The Revenge' (directed by Joseph Sargent) ... an abomination. But what a FUN abomination it is. The story finds Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary) still on shark-plagued Amity Island; living with her grown son, Sean. Her husband, Chief Brody (the great Roy Scheider), is dead (a heart attack, Ellen says, which was brought on from constant fear of the shark … mmmmokay). Suddenly a huge Great White shark kills Sean one night {in truly horrific fashion}, & the grieving Ellen heads to the Bahamas to visit/comfort her other son, Michael, & his family.
Even though Great Whites don't come down to those waters, Ellen still fears that ... wait for it ... the vengeful shark will follow her down to the Caribbean. Ridiculously ... Ellen's fears & suspicions prove correct. But before she realizes that the shark has trailed her, she starts dating a scruffy pilot named Hoagie (Michael Caine, what are you DOING in this?!?). Ellen's son, Michael, isn't happy about this; but that's neither here nor there for this absurd plot, anyway. Melodrama ensues as Ellen, Hoagie, & a Caribbean marine biologist named Jake (Mario Van Peebles) try to outpace, out swim, & kill the 'murderous' shark before the entire Brody clan is wiped out. Oy vey.
'Jaws 4' {as I'll call it} is the CLASSIC example of a movie so bad, that it's good. Don't get me wrong. The film is crap. It's edited shoddily. The shark attacks are jarringly filmed. But there is something intangibly watchable & humorous about watching this outrageous film unfold. There are also a couple of visceral sequences that instilled fear in me when I 1st saw this film as a child. 1) A shark attack while people rode a big yellow banana boat. And 2) The climactic overblown sequence involving the shark, Hoagie's seaplane, the front of a boat, & the Jake character. It's a wower.
Lorraine Gary has some effective moments as the emotionally-frayed-yet-determined Ellen. She's probably the only somewhat-redeeming aspect of the entire film (I’m damning with faint praise). Michael Caine? He missed the opportunity of picking up his Academy Award for Hannah & Her Sisters because he was - at the time - acting badly in this miserable movie {haha}. The shark? Ludicrous. Too big. Too mechanical-looking. And driven by 'revenge'!? PLEASE. The whole thing is laughable. And furthermore, how could this shark be vengeful when in each of the other Jaws films … the shark died!? I have a soft spot for this movie, though. It's amazingly terrible. But I always look back & smile at its poor quality. Funny, right?
Even though Great Whites don't come down to those waters, Ellen still fears that ... wait for it ... the vengeful shark will follow her down to the Caribbean. Ridiculously ... Ellen's fears & suspicions prove correct. But before she realizes that the shark has trailed her, she starts dating a scruffy pilot named Hoagie (Michael Caine, what are you DOING in this?!?). Ellen's son, Michael, isn't happy about this; but that's neither here nor there for this absurd plot, anyway. Melodrama ensues as Ellen, Hoagie, & a Caribbean marine biologist named Jake (Mario Van Peebles) try to outpace, out swim, & kill the 'murderous' shark before the entire Brody clan is wiped out. Oy vey.
'Jaws 4' {as I'll call it} is the CLASSIC example of a movie so bad, that it's good. Don't get me wrong. The film is crap. It's edited shoddily. The shark attacks are jarringly filmed. But there is something intangibly watchable & humorous about watching this outrageous film unfold. There are also a couple of visceral sequences that instilled fear in me when I 1st saw this film as a child. 1) A shark attack while people rode a big yellow banana boat. And 2) The climactic overblown sequence involving the shark, Hoagie's seaplane, the front of a boat, & the Jake character. It's a wower.
Lorraine Gary has some effective moments as the emotionally-frayed-yet-determined Ellen. She's probably the only somewhat-redeeming aspect of the entire film (I’m damning with faint praise). Michael Caine? He missed the opportunity of picking up his Academy Award for Hannah & Her Sisters because he was - at the time - acting badly in this miserable movie {haha}. The shark? Ludicrous. Too big. Too mechanical-looking. And driven by 'revenge'!? PLEASE. The whole thing is laughable. And furthermore, how could this shark be vengeful when in each of the other Jaws films … the shark died!? I have a soft spot for this movie, though. It's amazingly terrible. But I always look back & smile at its poor quality. Funny, right?