Three years after those infamous shark attacks, another great white swims into police chief Brody’s Amity resort town in this shameless sequel that’s a pale imitation of the classic original.
Two holidaymakers are attacked by a shark near the underwater wreckage of the Orca. The next victims are a water skier and her mother, but their death is ruled accidental.
Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), however, becomes obsessed with the notion of a great white threatening the peaceful town again, much as one did a few years earlier, exclaiming; “I don’t intend to go through that Hell again.”
The town officials think it’s a classic case of the boy who cried wolf and when Brody causes panic on a public beach in front of potential real estate investors, they take his badge away, declaring him a menace.
Meanwhile, his sons Mike (Mark Gruner) and Sean (Marc Gilpin) join a group of teens on a boat race to Lighthouse Island. They change course for Cable Junction, unaware that a great white is shadowing their every move.
Director Jeannot Szwarc tries to ape Steven Spielberg’s imaginative style, but 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.
Stalwart Roy Scheider is in full control of this blasé follow-up that makes one wonder why Mayor Vaughan (Murray Hamilton) hasn’t learnt any lessons from previous events.
Martin Brody
Roy Scheider
Ellen Brody
Lorraine Gary
Mayor Vaughan
Murray Hamilton
Len Peterson
Joseph Mascolo
Deputy Jeff Hendricks
Jeffrey Kramer
Dr Lureen Elkins
Collin Wilcox
Tina Wilcox, Miss Amity
Ann Dusenberry
Mike Brody
Mark Gruner
Andrews
Barry Coe
Andy
Gary Springer
Jackie
Donna Wilkes
Ed
Gary Dubin
Polo
John Dukakis
Timmy
G Thomas Dunlop
Larry
David Elliott
Sean Brody
Marc Gilpin
Doug
Keith Gordon
Lucy
Cynthia Grover
Patrick
Ben Marley
Marge
Martha Swatek
Bob Burnside
Billy Van Zandt
Director
Jeannot Szwarc