When the original Jaws was released, it proved (just like The Godfather) that movies can be better than the books they’re based on. What could have been a silly monster movie was instead an A-class nail-biter fueled by subtlety and great performances. Jaws remains one of cinema’s masterclasses on just how to construct a thriller, but what about the sequels that followed? They certainly skew more towards silly monster movie than masterpiece, but are they quite as awful as they’ve been made out to be? In short, all but one of them warrants the negative reputation that precedes them, even if they’re still nothing compared to Spielberg’s original classic.
Videos by ComicBook.com
From the original film, which has made people fear sharks to this day, to whatever the heck the fourth movie was, these are the Jaws movies, ranked. Just keep in mind that the third and fourth entries are pretty much interchangeable.
4) Jaws: The Revenge
Will there ever be a fifth Jaws movie or a remake? Likely not, it’s like Back to the Future in that it’s pretty much untouchable. But, if there were, the chances are rock solid that it would not continue with the telepathic shark plot thread established in Jaws: The Revenge.
A movie so awful that it appears on any number of “Worst Movies of All Time” lists, Jaws: The Revenge is almost impossible to sit through from front to back without raising an eyebrow multiple times. There are many odd plot points and single scenes strewn throughout the film. That said, the strangest aspect of Jaws: The Revenge isn’t the banana boat scene (which is admittedly pretty great), nor is it the notion of the shark stalking a particular bloodline, or Michael Caine’s dry shirt immediately after climbing onto a boat, or the fact the shark can roar. It’s not even the shark’s death, where it’s impaled by the prow of a schooner and then just kind of explodes. No, the strangest aspect of Jaws: The Revenge is that, when those aforementioned moments aren’t occurring, it’s dull as shark-free dishwater.
3) Jaws 3-D
Jaws: The Revenge finds itself popping up on “Worst of” lists more often, but Jaws 3-D is equally as poor. The effects are a particular problem, most notably when the matte line-surrounded shark slowly moves towards a large glass panel, stops, and the glass shatters. It’s hard to imagine this film looking good even on the big screen back in 1983 with 3-D glasses on.
There also simply isn’t enough of the shark in the movie. Like The Revenge, Jaws 3-D is often quite dull. The only upsides for it are the presence of Louis Gossett Jr. and Lea Thompson, Bess Armstrong’s acting, and the character Philip FitzRoyce. To the latter point, Simon MacCorkindale is charming in the role of the adventurer and shark hunter, and the character’s death is the only example of the third film displaying any sort of tension building. That alone technically puts it ahead of The Revenge, which is utterly devoid of tension.
2) Jaws 2
[RELATED: The LEGO Jaws Set is A Brick Recreation of One of Cinema’s Greatest Moments]
Spielberg has intermittently returned to horror over the years, particularly with the adventure-horror classic Jurassic Park as well as in producing Gremlins and Poltergeist. But, at the time, the hitmaker was not interested in returning to the scary, bloody waters of the Jaws franchise. Instead, the late Jeannot Szwarc was brought in, and thanks to a contractual obligation, so was an unhappy Roy Scheider.
Scheider may not have wanted to be in Jaws 2, but he’s the primary reason it’s easily the only good Jaws sequel. This aquatic slasher flick feels pretty directly linked to the original film, from the use of Edgartown in Martha’s Vineyard for the scenes set in Amity to the returning cast that also includes Murray Hamilton, Jeffrey Kramer, and Lorraine Gary. The film also alters the formula just enough to stand on its own.
Brody’s whole arc is solid and underrated in Jaws 2. Discovering there’s another shark thanks to a developed photo, the Killer Whale carcass, his firing after shooting at a school of bluefish, it all works well. And, while the shark looks inferior to the first film’s, it gets nearly as memorable a send-off via the power cable chomp. Toss in the shark’s charred face, a tense helicopter sequence and, particularly, the water-skiing sequence, and Jaws 2 really is about as rock-solid as a sequel to the original masterpiece could be.
1) Jaws
One of the best movies of all time, horror or otherwise, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws has managed to age remarkably well over the course of five full decades. The film that gave birth to the blockbuster summer movie season, it’s a thriller composed of two distinct parts. The first is fairly straightforward horror, with a shark circling a small island, devouring everyone from kids and puppy dogs to boating instructors. The second is a brotherly adventure film with three men from three distinct walks of life teaming up to take down the beast.
Both halves of the film are equally compelling, which is quite a testament to just how talented Spielberg was so early in his career. Furthermore, the fact that a green director could take such a troubled production and spin it into absolute gold is nothing short of a miracle. The irony is, had everything gone according to plan and the mechanical shark worked as expected, Jaws would be a lesser film for it. Instead, it’s the ultimate example of how less can sometimes be more.
All four Jaws films are available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video.
