Being a movie collector is lots of fun. You go to the store or the online site and shop for hours looking for deals on your favorite movies. But, a problem for me is I go to secondhand stores and will sometimes buy movies that maybe I wasn’t crazy about when I saw them but now it’s only $6, so I figure “Why not?” Or, I buy a movie I’ve seen and I forget to watch it.
I have mentioned before that my wife is supportive of my collecting, but she also gets annoyed because I buy movies and they sit on my shelf, never seeing the inside of my blu-ray player.
At first, I told my wife “I’ve watched most of them!” But recently I decided to separate the films that I have not watched. And darn it, my wife is right!
So, I took all those discs and placed them on the bottom of my shelf. My movies are organized alphabetically, so I thought for fun I would mix them up, place them back on the bottom of the shelf and watch whatever movie is next.
I will review the discs as it will help keep me focused on completing my task of finally being able to tell my wife, “I have watched them all!”
Welcome to Blu-Buried!
Ellen Brody, the wife of Chief Brody from the original Jaws, is still living in Amity after the death of her husband. Her son, Sean is now an Officer for Amity. On Christmas Eve, Sean sets out on a boat to fix a buoy. As Sean reaches down to grab a log caught in the buoy, he is attacked and killed by a Great White Shark. Ellen now thinks that the shark is purposely attacking her family (yes this is really the plot). Ellen goes to the Bahamas where her other son, Mike is a researcher. There the shark follows her and she seems to have a supernatural link to the shark.
Where to begin with Jaws: The Revenge? I guess Universal was trying to be a little creative with the franchise (you can check it out in this post to know more about it). But the film comes across lazy and uninspired. The shark looks horrendous. The attacks are staged without any suspense. In Jaws 2, the shark was shown more and while that film also lost what made the first an all time great, it was at least fun. Jaws: The Revenge is a chore to get through.
The best thing about the film is Lorraine Gary returns as Ellen Brody. The script lets her down when she can “feel” when the shark attacks members of her family, but she commands the screen with a very heartfelt performance. Michael Caine famously could not accept his Oscar due to filming Jaws, but he too is good as the love interest for Ellen, the pilot Hoagie. Not fairing as well is Jake, played by Mario Van Peebles. His Jamaican accent wavers throughout the film. It also makes him give a very unconvincing performance as it feels he is focusing so hard on the accent it distracts him.
The film does not build any credible suspense because director Joseph Sargent seems way out of his league. The shark is shown to stick its head out of water and just stay there. Like it’s floating in the water. Another scene sees the shark chasing Michael through a sunken ship. How the shark navigates and gets into areas of the ships is so implausible that you roll you eyes. Add to the fact that you can see the sled pulling the shark in multiple scenes, for an A+ release this film is considerably low-rent. I am not sure if Sargent is 100% to blame as in doing research for this review, I stumbled across an interview with Sargent where he says that he had basically 9 months to write a script, shoot the picture, edit the picture and deliver the picture. Maybe there wasn’t enough time to fix the glaring technical issues on this film. A making-of documentary for Jaws: The Revenge would be epic.
Another interesting fact; Jaws: The Revenge cost over $23 million dollars to produce, Star Trek IV cost $25 million to produce, but they could not be more different as far as look and overall competence in making of the pictures. Jaws looks like a shark movie that was made on a shoestring budget. The shark doesn’t look awful, but his movements look so fake it distracts for the overall aesthetic of the effect.
And the shark roars at the end. It’s weird.
For an underwhelming movie Jaws: The Revenge looks pretty great in high definition. The scenery is crystal clear, the water is a striking blue. Flesh tones look stunning, and the clothing pops. Some scenes to not look as sharp, especially the green screen behind the actors in the airplane scenes and the final scenes which you can tell were filmed on Universal’s Jaws ride as the backdrop looks fake.
Jaws: The Revenge takes a bite out of your system with solid update of DTS-HD Master Audio. The movie isn’t good but the sound is really substantial and that is another positive for this disaster.
Jaws: The Revenge actually comes with two bonus features!
Alternate Ending: This ending is gorier and makes more sense. In the reshot ending that appears on the disc, Ellen rams the shark with the front of the a broken boom on the ship, which coupled with the thing that Michael uses to cause the shark to roar in pain (yep, that happens) makes the shark explode. And Mario Van Peebles is miraculously alive after being eaten and dragged underwater about 5 minutes prior. In the alternate ending the shark is stabbed, spews blood from its mouth and dies, sinking to the bottom of the ocean with the front of the boat stuck in its side. Mario Van Peebles stays dead. Plus, it’s in HD so there’s that.
Also included is the teaser trailer, which is better than the movie.
Jaws: The Revenge is a mess. I wouldn’t buy it, unless you want to waste $10.
Film: D-
Video: B
Audio: B
Extras: C-
Overall: D