In Jaws 2 a person told sheriff Brody that sharks don't take things personally...in this one they apparently not only do, but they also will hunt you down to the ends of the earth. This focuses on the most mediocre character of the first two Jaws, Ellen Brody. It starts with one of her sons being out on a boat and being killed by a shark. Why he is out on the water is anyone's guess seeing as he was afraid of water in 3, which I do believe this one completely ignores. This attack is probably the only real good scene in the flick cause we are off to the Caribbean where Ellen goes to visit with her other son who just doesn't seem all to upset by his brother's death. What is waiting for her here, but the exact same shark that killed her other son. Michael Caine is in this and this somehow makes me wonder why couldn't they have just forgotten about the Brody's and maybe have it be about Caine in Australia or something as a shark hunter...why do we have to have the same family, you have a better chance of being struck by lightening than you do of being attacked by a shark yet this family is constantly being attacked by sharks. Maybe they all bath in fish blood before swimming? Anyway this film is quite bad and was a pretty bad way to end the franchise.
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Aaron137521 February 2003
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lost-in-limbo4 June 2006On the island Amity during the Christmas break, Mrs. Ellen Brody's younger son Deputy Sean is taken by a great white shark one night after being called out to move a piece of wood tangled up with a buoy. After this happens Michael who lives in the Bahamas with his wife and daughter studying sea snails, visits his mother and asks her to come down there with him and the family. Ellen wants Michael to not go near the water, but he convinces her that it's all fine, since great whites don't like the warm water. But hold on as the shark that killed Sean is now stalking the family and has only one thing on mind - to wipe out the Brody family.
Leave those Brody's alone! Err, what crud yeah reading the outline above you'll be just rolling your eyes at how ridiculous this film does get. The last sequel "Jaws 3" was a bad film, but I actually enjoyed it to some degree, but here the personal agenda format was just rubbish and the special connection between the Brody's and the shark was just plain risible. I just found this clunker quite lacklustre with it's melodramatic, soap opera of a story and it's lack of thrills and suspense. It was quite a drag and it did have that cheap TV feel about it, despite it's more than capable cast. The only thing that I thought was decent was the terrifyingly, bloody and macabre opening death. Although, few of the performances ( mainly Lance Guest in the key role of Michael Brody and Michael Caine's happy- go-lucky pilot character Hoagie ) made sure that the film didn't sink too fast. While, the rest were simply one-note and Mario Van Peebles' Jamaican accent was just so dodgy. But what was in need of a life-jacket was the dire script that threw out many awful lines of dialogues. "I've always wanted to make love to an angry welder. I've dreamed of nothing else since I was a small boy." What?! The repetitively, diluted story is full of crock with many implausible situations and it doesn't leave too much up to the imagination. Was the writer and the director drinking sea water on this project? Maybe so, because Michael's wife's supposed piece of art resembled what? I just don't see it. Well, the sprawling beach lines and crystal blue waters were a nice sight. Too bad that the mechanical, but crooked plastic shark slowly got in the way. The ramshackle design looked dreadful, but the makers didn't seem to notice because they constantly kept showing the abomination in it's full glory. I even got the feeling that the shark just couldn't stop grinning. The (few) shark attacks are rather furious and quite graphic, but I found the latter ones to be laughable because of the execution. Really, it goes all out to outdo itself, but this puddle turns out to be simply inept in mostly every single department. Overall, a fatally disastrous novel production that never should have seen open waters and you won't be laughing too much, but you'll be a daze of bemusement to how this franchise fell apart.
It's definitely as bad as its reputation. This is one shark that just won't let go! -
I am completely dumbfounded. What in the world were the people behind this mess thinking? When the movie was over, Jaws: The Revenge left me with more questions than answers. Here's a laundry list of my questions:
1. How did a movie as good as Jaws spawn this junk?
2. Regardless of where the shark is in the ocean, how is it capable of knowing the moment a Brody sticks so much as a big toe into the water?
3. If you attributed your husband's and son's deaths to a great white shark, wouldn't you want to go to someplace like Oklahoma instead of the Bahamas?
4. Do all Bahamians slip in and out of their accents the way Mario Van Peebles does in Jaws: The Revenge?
5. Could they have possibly made the shark look any more fake?
6. Snails?
7. You mean that piece of welded together scrap metal was supposed to represent all that is good about the Bahamas?
8. Do sharks really jump out of the water like Shamu and roar like a lion?
9. What's more frightening - a great white shark or Ellen Brody's hair?
10. Is there a bigger acting whore on the planet than Michael Caine?
The best way to watch a movie like Jaws: The Revenge is with a group of friends. There's plenty here to make fun of. -
bordentownfilms27 July 2004SPOILERS
Do you want to know how they kill the shark in this one? Do you want to know how stupid the producers of this Bahaman hunk of crap think you are? SHE SAILS THE BOAT INTO THE SHARK AND IMPALES IT WITH THE BOW. No, you read it correctly. The last Starfighter is standing on the deck, flashing some strobe at the shark. The strobe reacts to the electronic gizmo that Mario Van Peebles dropped in its mouth (naturally), the shark stands straight up in the water and roars--I said ROARS!!!--just at the moment Ellen Brody sails the boat into it. Smile you son-of-a-career-ruining-sequel!
This is the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life. The shark eats the Last Starfighter's younger brother in New England, then IT FOLLOWS ELLEN BRODY TO THE BAHAMAS. Apparently, even sharks need a Caribbean getaway now and again. The story is impossible for anyone with even a single connected synapse to believe. I half expected the shark to somehow regurgitate Robert Shaw up onto the deck to help with the navigating of the boat directly into the heart of the beast.
About half way through the movie, my right hand jerked up involuntarily and smacked my face. Minutes later, my left hand did the same thing. That's right; this movie was so bad, that my body tried to stop me from watching it. Loss of bowel/bladder control followed quickly thereafter.
They should play this in hospitals to snap catatonics back to reality and wake coma patients who will jump out of bed and run screaming down the hall to get away from its sheer nightmarish stupidity. This isn't just bad-it's an atrocity.
I know in the director's cut, Mario Van Peebles--even though he was chewed up by the shark--doesn't die. He limply paddles back in after the great impaling, smiling and joking--it's alright, everybody, Mario Van Peebles made it! Had I seen that, my head would've exploded, ruining my couch and un-scotch guarded carpet.
Oh, Michael Kane. Why? You're an Oscar-caliber actor. What did you think it was going to do for your career, standing on the deck of 'Neptune's Folly' in-between the Last Starfighter and Mario Van Peebles? Hoagie, indeed my friend. -
saltandpepper6627 December 2005The movie is one of the worst I've ever seen. The attack scenes are worse than what I used to do with Fisher Price Town and a stuffed seal from Marineland. The shark follows them to the Bahamas; apparently for revenge...revenge for being killed in earlier movies! Or is the shark exacting revenge for his friends who were killed? Or maybe (and here's something they could have pursued) it was the WIFE of the previous shark who decided the wife of her husband's killer should suffer. Well she did suffer, by appearing in this movie. For Jaws 5 I suggest the surviving family members of Mrs. Brodie swim back to New York and start biting sharks.
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mentalcritic29 October 2004If there ever were proof of the law of diminishing returns, the fourth entry in the Jaws series is it. The original was a taut thriller that launched the career of one of Hollywood's most celebrated directors. By comparison, Michael Caine often looks as if he is incredibly upset to be missing his award ceremony in order to appear in this piece. Lance Guest and Mario Van Peebles frequently appear to be wishing to have better things to do, while Lorraine Gary frequently looks stoned in moments when she is supposed to look frightening.
Clearly, the budget spent on this film didn't go into the research, script, or mechanical shark. Exactly why Michael Brody and his pals are putting what are apparently tracking devices on conch shells is never explained. Perhaps any explanation they thought of was so incredibly stupid that they thought it best to give up. An alternate explanation of why Michael is working in the water was never thought of, either. The true Ed Wood moment of the film comes towards the end of the piece, when the shark rises out of the water, and roars at Elaine. This is the first time I've heard of sharks having vocal cords. Given the box office draw this stinker had, I suspect it will be the last.
The shark takes a real beating here, too. The reason the shark wasn't seen often in the original was because Spielberg noticed that if one put it in front of the camera for long enough, the audience would notice that it doesn't move like a real shark. In this edition of the Jaws story, not only do they keep the camera focused upon the shark for more than enough time for the audience to notice the model's flaws, in so doing they make it crystal clear that this shark was made on the cheap. There are some shots in which the support structure of the shark is visible under the outer layer. There is even what appears to be a seam in the back of the shark's main fin.
To its credit, Jaws: The Revenge is well-photographed. While the 2.35:1 frame is often sparsely populated, depth of field is used with great effect in several shots. The fact that even frames with one character in them won't make sense when cropped to fit analogue television is a credit to the director and cinematographer. If only this kind of workmanship could have been seen in other aspects of the film.
Another area where Jaws: The Revenge deserves due credit is the score music. While the score is very much inspired by that which John Williams provided for the original, it distinguishes itself and genuinely works in its own right. In fact, one could almost say that the score music is more than the rest of the film deserves. The music is literally able to inject dramatic tension into scenes that, by all rights granted under the accepted rules of film-making, really shouldn't have any.
When all is said and done, I gave Jaws: The Revenge a one out of ten. It works as a comedy in the sense that it is a stinking pile of crap, but there are precious few moments when the people making it seem privy to the fact. As a result, the film winds up in a class all of its own. It's not just so bad its good, it is so utterly bad it is incredible. -
JonDubya200413 July 2004It's personal because I hate this audience-insulting movie. This has got to be the stupidest horror flick of all times. The ending (all of them) alone would be enough to justify this film's place on the bottom 100 list. I mean the premise (shark is after the Brody family for revenge. It chases (and beats) the Brody's to Jamaica to harrass them and snack on a few extras).
The effects went WAY downhill for this one. The shark on the Universial Studios tram tour is more convincing then this duct-taped-at-the-seams roboshark. The acting is atrocious (especially Mario Van Peeble and his grating "hey mon" accent) -
theshadow9088 June 2006Jaws: The Revenge is the final entry into the Jaws series, and thank God for that. Ellen Brody is now living in the Bahamas after her youngest son Sean, who has followed in the footsteps of his father and become Chief of the Amity police, is killed by another Great White Shark. In what is the most ridiculous plots of all time, we find out that one specific shark is holding a grudge against the Brody family, and after it kills Sean, it swims against the Gulf Stream down to the Bahamas so it can kill Ellen and Michael as well. Jaws: The Revenge is an embarrassment to anyone who knows anything about sharks, and is the worst of the series.
The plot is completely wrong in this movie. The whole plot is built off of bs. I can't even allow suspension of disbelief to let me ignore that the shark is hunting the Brody family. It's ridiculous! Aside from that is that the film contains any number of factual errors about sharks ranging from having the shark swim backwards, roar like a lion, stand on its tail, and devour a helicopter. The shark in the first film did unusual things, but nothing that would make a shark lover cry.
The acting in this movie is so bad that...You know what? I don't even want to discuss it. It's bad. Terrible. Loathsome. Repugnant. What else is there? Lorraine Gray played Ellen just fine in the first film, but for some reason in this film she let all of her acting skill slip away. Even Michael Caine, who is a vastly talented actor, shows absolutely no skill at all.
Every copy of Jaws: The Revenge should be swallowed by the shark from the first film.
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Farp_rock28 March 2005I would like anyone to present to me, a greater scale of difference between the greatest film ever made in Jaws, and the worst film ever made in ...the revenge. This film within the opening minutes, commits the ultimate sequel sin-it kills off the youngest Brody boy, Sean- as seen as the the little boy in the first 2films. If Jaws fanatics don't get up and leave at this point- it gets worse- our hero Chief Brody is now deceased!! Apparently by heart-attack. So what a start, this leaves us with two members of the Brody clan remaining- Widow Lorraine Gary, and her son Michael, now a marine biologist in the Bahamas. This event of Sean's death forces her to flee the shores of Amity Island and head for her son 2000 miles away in the Bahamas. The despicable opening to the movie suddenly now takes a bizarre and utterly ludicrous twist. Sharky, revenging the death of it's fellow Sharks by Mr.Brody- wants to eat all Brody's and intends to stop at nothing to do so. This shark obviously catches wind of Ellen's intentions to flee the area, and the Shark sets off to follow her. I mean it. A STALKER SHARK! (He would have been just as well getting out of the water, and knocking on her door.)
So as she heads off in the plane, our Shark follows the plane all the way from New England to the Bahamas. The viewer has now realised all common sense behind the movie has been thrown out the window and we are left with a super-shark with powers to follow a plane at maybe 500miles an hour and travels 2000 miles following this plane. How? no idea ask the script writer and the producers. The utterly bizarre becomes a comedy from here on in. Michael Brody, a well meaning kid in the first 2, has turned into an utter idiot. He discovers the shark is in the Bahamas but for some twist of reasoning decides not to let anybody know-putting everyone in his family in jeopardy. He is married but seemingly cares nothing about the wife, as he spends his occupation money and time putting his efforts watching sea snails. His wife announces to her mother-in-law she plans on having an active sex life with him, why does she do that? no idea...ask the writer. Meanwhile we are introduced to Michael Cane whom is furiously trying to woo Ellen Brody.
Every so often the episode of Family Affairs, is interrupted by a rubber 'fish'and the attack scenes are minimal, Lorraine Gary gets attacked, but get this-it was all a dream!!So what little of the shark we do see is in fact a dream- uh-huh great...
The director really has little interest in the shark, every so often it rears it's rubber head but if you look closely we can actually see at times the railing that follows it along. All this clearly gets too much for Lorraine Gary, as she clearly can't take any more of the film thus she rushes onto a boat to find the shark herself. Cue, the most bizarre and worst ending in cinema history. En route she is intercepted by her incredibly inept son, who plans on sending electric impulses on the shark to electrocute it. Sure mate, whatever just do it so we can end it OK?! Ellen's over 50's love interest Michael Caine gets his plane capsized and attacked underwater by our shark. But good news, he emerges from the water unscathed with a newly pressed shirt, perfectly dry emerging form the water declaring "that thing had bad breathe" or something to that effect. Yes, that is the depths this film has reached. We see the shark proceed to bite the boat and the poor Bahamas guy, the only half decent guy in the movie-but he serves a purpose to put the electric thing in its mouth. The next few minutes sees the shark have seizures and leap high in the air balancing on its fins- think 'free Willy' on Ecstasy.Ellen Brody then proceeds to have flash backs of scenes she didn't witness-such as the "Smile u son of a B..." scene at the end of the original- At this point the shark leaps up perfectly straight for an extended period (U know for a shark thats meant to to have superpowers, it seems pretty dumb)but regardless it lets out a dinosaur roar-i'm not kidding- and balances on the water like a trapeze artist, long enough to get lampooned by the boat. Inexplicably it um....blows up! Yep, it blows up and Mike's mate the Bahamas guy comes out alive and well. And that my friends is the tale of the most bizarre movie i have ever witnessed. Joseph Sargeant the director clearly took what Spielberg said in an interview about the demise of the shark in the original the wrong way- Spielberg said "if you can carry the audience for 2hours; 2minutes of the sharks ending won't make a difference." Sargeant decided that if he can carry the audience for 2minutes he can throw-the craziest most bizarre things for 2 hours! like a roaring shark who balances on its fins and stalks a family while having psychic connections with the woman. Not only that the shark can blow up when it gets stabbed! Sargeant might need to review his logic! -
Sleepin_Dragon24 January 2018Having read Michael Caine's biography I was intrigued to read of his views on this film, I had to watch it. I managed to get to the end, but found myself asking what could I have done with those ninety minutes? I'll never get them back. Throughout my Jaws reviews I've likened each one to a Shark, Jaws 1 is a Great white, proud, majestic with a huge bite. Jaws 2 is a Blue Shark, a lesser beast but still a meanie, 3 was a Basking shark, toothless, Jaws the Revenge is Bile, it's not even a shark, it is simply bile. The effects here make Jaws 3D look like a stellar 21st century blockbuster, the shark looks like a rubber monster from a Pound Shop, the acting is atrocious, Caine himself is shocking.
By now I think all behavioural aspects of a shark have vanished, this thing in the sea is not of any known life form. A shark with a vendetta is quite funny I guess, the stylish terror of the first has vanished. Simply put this should not be watched under any circumstances, and yet it was a relative box office hit. Wonders will never cease, avoid. 1/10 -
Please...I have heard some nonsense in my time, but the defence of such a monstrous production is well...indefensible. Spouting claptrap about Shakespeare doesn't dignify what is a ridiculous and feeble offering of a motion picture.
This movie was so bad it virtually spoofed itself. Hey I know, why not on top of the shark following them all to the Bahamas doesn't it learn to walk too, and then it could follow them if they decided to move inland.
Michael Caine is a very good actor who has a habit of appearing in bad movies. In this one was impressive as he managed to keep a straight face throughout.
So bad it's beyond redemption of any kind and richly deserves it's place at #33 in the bottom rated IMDb movies. It's amazing it did that well.
I'm glad the director has taken the time to submit his review though. -
RelaxAce11 May 2005I am interested in making a fifth installment to the series casting Jaws in the complex role of an assassin. This time it's for money and nothing can stop this bloodthirsty shark. Features extras such as Jaws in the club, Jaws playing racketball, Jaws rockin' a mink.. the sky is the limit. Were you enthralled by the first film but disappointed by sequels that tried to come off as scary and suspenseful? Well, don't worry, because Jaws V: This Time It's For Money is strictly parody. Plus my film will be completely self-deprecating and won't try to be scary. You'll double over with laughter as Jaws chows his way through the courtroom. Starring Steve Guttenburg as the toughguy with a soundtrack from Air Supply and Trixter.
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BandSAboutMovies5 January 2020So many people use Jaws: The Revenge as an instantly recognizable reference point for bad movies. If you watch any of those top ten worst films lists on YouTube, inevitably it's right there on the top of every one of them. But can it really be that bad of a movie?
It's certainly made by people with talent. Producer/director Joseph Sargent won four Emmys throughout his storied career, as well as helming such well-thought of movies like The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Night That Panicked America, Nightmares, MacArthur and Colossus: The Forbin Project. He even won his the Directors Guild of America Award for The Marcus-Nelson Murders, the TV movie pilot for Kojak. In fact, he still leads all DGA members for most nominations for the TV movie category.
Sir Michael Caine is certainly a talented actor. He's been nominated for an Academy Award in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s, winning two for Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules, with his performance in Educating Rita earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.
So what happened? How can a movie - that one assumes was made with good intentions - turn out to be the touchstone for what constitutes a bomb?
In interviews before the film was even released, Sargent referred to it as "a ticking bomb waiting to go off" and noting that MCA Inc. President - and husband of star Lorraine Gary - Sid Sheinberg "expects a miracle." There was no script when Sargent was asked to direct. Years later, he'd say that the movie was made out of desperation and that he tried a mystical take in an attempt to give audiences "something interesting enough to sit through."
Even though this film was to center on Gray's Ellen Brody character, Roy Scheider was offered a cameo where his Martin Brody character, rather than Sean Brody, would have been killed by the shark in the beginning. This was a wise choice to avoid this opening - murdering the center of the first two films would have put such a bad taste in audiences' mouths that they may have hated this movie even more than they already did. To his credit, Scheider said, ""Satan himself could not get me to do Jaws Part 4."
Lee Fierro also returned as Mrs. Kintner, the mother of Alex in Jaws, along with Amity Town Council member Mrs. Taft, who is again played by Fritzi Jane Courtney. Amity Selectman Mr. Posner (Cyprian R. Dube) is now the mayor, probably because the actor who played Larry Vaughan (Murray Hamilton) is dead.
Otherwise, forget all you knew about Jaws and the previous sequels. Mike no longer works for SeaWorld and he's no longer played by Dennis Quaid. Instead, Halloween 2 hunk Lance Guest fills in. Following the heart attack death of her husband and great white murder of her son Sean - to the strains of holiday carols no less - Ellen Brody forgets all that she knew as well and leaves for the Bahamas.
There, she falls for Hoagie (Caine), who is a degenerate gambler by night and a pilot by day, but we all know that he runs cocaine. It's just never said, but we can read between the lines that he's done some shady things. In fact, scenes involving him being a smuggler were shot, then deleted during post-production, because it took away from the shark scenes.
Right now, Hoagie is having a September September romance with Ellen, trying to get her to forget the past - keep in my her husband died a few months ago and her son a few days hence - with some airplane riding, slow dancing and carnival attending.
Some moments of the film definitely make me understand why people dislike it so - the sepia toned callbacks to the first film, Mario Van Peebles' forced accent, a shark that is somehow able to swim from an island in New York to the Bahamas in three days, which means he'd had to swim at nearly its full speed of 25 mph non-stop to make it. I mean, sharks never sleep, but that's ridiculous.
Also, when you watch the ending, you may notice that the shark roars. Underwater, no less. The sound effects guy thought that this was so stupid that he used a sound effect from a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Speaking of the ending, the one that gets aired on TV and home video isn't the original. When the film was first released, it ended with JJakebeing devoured, Ellen ramming the shark with Mike's boat and the shark's death throes nearly killing everyone. Audiences hated that, so the ending with her stabbing the shark with the bow of the ship was added. Because they didn't have much budget left, the film ends with the footage of the dying shark from the original.
These reshoots kept Caine from accepting his Oscar. Imagine that.
It could have been much worse. Or better, if you're someone like me that loves movies packed with inanity and insanity in equal measure.
That's because in the novelization of the film by Hank Searls, Hoagie is a government agent transporting laundered money. Jake is killed by the shark. And the reason for all this mayhem is because a voodoo witch doctor has a score to settle with the Brody family - which also explains, I guess, why Ellen and the shark have a psychic connection.
While the movie ignores the third film, the book combines all the movies with the Peter Benchley novel, making a reference to Ellen's affair with Matt Hooper that is eliminated from the Spielberg-directed original film.
In truth, I like this movie. It's an interesting take on how years of dealing with shark-related mayhem takes its toll on the various characters' lives. And I really enjoyed how Michael and Carla's marriage is depicted; she initiates lovemaking as much as him and it just seems honest and real.
Let's face it. I've seen plenty of worse movies than this one. If there's any tragedy to this movie, it's that the actress who played Thea - Judith Barsi - died not long after it was released, as she and her mother were the victims of a murder/suicide at the hands of her father. Lance Guest served as a pallbearer at her funeral.
Perhaps the best review of the film comes from Sir Michael Caine himself, who said, "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific. Won an Oscar, built a house, and had a great holiday. Not bad for a flop movie." -
CuriosityKilledShawn14 November 1998There's no new bad things I can say about this film as they are all pretty much common knowledge (like how can someone have flashbacks of events they never witnessed?). But I will say that no collection is complete without this movie. It is so wretchedly bad it's funny.
First of all, hardly anybody gets eaten. After Jaws gobbles up the youngest Brody son Mom goes on a holiday to get away from Amity Island and it's history...to the Bahamas! Total change of scenery huh? Jaws follows. How? Don't ask me. And he gets there in a day when it would take any ordinary shark about a week minimum.
Her elder son works as a marine biologist (surely being attacked by sharks in the first two movies would put him off going in the ocean) and is studying sea snails (presumably he got fired from Sea World after Jaws 3). By pure coincidence (or contrivance), Jaws shows up and pokes his nose into the sea snail research.
The shark looks sooooooooooooo fake. It's very obviously nothing but foam rubber with plastic teeth. And it's incredibly stupid. The shark in the first film (and in the surprisingly good second) seemed to be kind of smart and cunning. But now it's just a big lumbering idiot.
Why on earth Michael Caine agreed to be in this is beyond me. He even couldn't get to the Oscars to accept his award for Hannah and her Sisters because he was too busy filming this turkey. And the story with him dating Mom Brody takes up a tremendous amount of the film's running time and ends up turning it into a soap opera.
The worst thing tho, isn't the elder Brody son's beard or Mario Van Peebles' Jamaican accent. It's the ending. Let me explain what happens...
Jaws stands on his tail! On the Water!! Roars like a Lion!!! Is stabbed by the broken mast of a ship... ...and explodes!!!!
Of course!
Where on earth the idea for that ending came from is probably best kept a mystery. The fact that it recycles footage from the first film into this ending is a mockery of the original's genius. It should also be noted that this version includes the happy (alternate) ending in Mario Van Peebles survives being chomped across the belly by the big fish.
Universal stained the legacy of a great movie with this turd. -
amesmonde7 June 2016A great white shark stalks a woman to the Bahamas to kill the remaining members of her family...
I'm fond of Jaws the Revenge, there I admit it. Although it may be a bad movie, also an incompetent one, to its credit it ignores Jaws 3- D and stars Lorraine Gary of Jaws and Jaws 2. Yes, Ellen Brody returns, the wife of chief Martin Brody. Director Joseph Sargent opening is probably the strongest segment of the film. We return to an atmospheric Martha's Vineyard but this time it's Christmas time where Ellen's youngest son has his dad's old job and after a call is eaten by a shark while a choir drowns out his screams. There's some good to come out of this event as we get some cameos at the funeral by the actors of the original. Grief stricken Ellen flees the Bahamas to stay with her eldest son Michael played by Lance Guest (of fricking Starfighter) - but, get this, the shark has somehow followed her, it wants to eat her entire family possibly as revenge for its parent sharks being killed by Brody in part one and two, who knows?! Yes it's a paper thin plot with a series of shark attacks but if you can look beyond that and the shoddy shark models there's something quite endearing about 1987's Jaws: The Revenge.
At the time criticized for its jumping shark (no Henry Winkler pun intended) it has since been established that sharks in fact do propel themselves out of the water (although in the critic's defence I'm sure the filmmaker had no idea of their over 15 feet leaps at the time). That said, to date no shark has been heard roaring like Bruce 4 does in this film. Guest's performance is excellent, he really is likable (honestly) as the marine biologist and over protective son. Mario Van Peebles' Jake with a terrible accent and an unlikable attitude makes you secretly glad he gets eaten, depending on which version you watched, you still feel sorry for his wife.
There's a handful of imaginative scenes which makes this instalment worthwhile. At one point Jake attaches a device to the shark so that he can track it through its heartbeat. These heart beat noises build up some tension akin to the barrels in the 1975 Jaws. Interestingly, there's set up where Michael is chased through a wreck and escapes using his air tank - James Bond style! In addition there's also banana boat scene where Jaws (Bruce 4) tries to chow down on Ellen's granddaughter. Another positive is that Gary really shines as the credible paranoid grandmother and mother. It's refreshing to see (albeit cringe worthy) the older lady falling in love with a local pilot Hoagie (Michael 'Get Carter' Caine). Oddly writer Michael de Guzman injects an overbearing amount of sexual dialogue. With every adult character in the film acting at times like a frisky teenager under Sargent's supervision.
For tradition and impact Sargent wisely uses John Williams classic theme and unsurprisingly Michael Small fills in the rest delivering a near on perfect score. In the closing Caine's Hoagie is so Dirty Rotten Scoundrels cool he crash-lands his aeroplane in to the sea and when he emerges onto the boat he's completely dry, "Blood 'ell, the breath on that thing".
So long as you're watching the version where Jake dies and shark gets stabbed, sinking breaking the boat up and not the one where Jaws inexplicably explodes (recycling footage from the original Jaws) it's a more fitting closure. Either way both versions are choppily edited and you can't help feel that with more care or a different director even with the preposterous, yet, novel premise it could have been better.
Overall, hugely flawed but somewhat entertaining. -
darthquincunx29 June 2004There is Montezuma's revenge and then there is Jaws: The Revenge, in either case diarrhea is produced. This is really a terrible film, as if a shark would go out and take revenge on the family that "murdered" his cousins. Nonsense! It is awful to see Michael Caine in this film, I don't know why Michael appears in films like this, he must only do it for the money because the artistic merits of this film are zilch. Poor Lorraine Gary, went into retirement and then only to come out of retirement to do this turkey, and to think she felt obliged to as well, hardly a fitting finale to the end of a career. This film should have won more Razzies than it did but then against it was up against Leonard part 6!
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CharlotteBobcats198512 February 2005I can't even give a real introduction this movie is so bad. Everyone should know, but let's take a little history course. In 1975, a movie titled "Jaws" (directed by S. Spielberg) hit movie theaters and was an instant success. A sequel was released a few years later, simply titled Jaws 2. That did alright, but wasn't anywhere close to be going good. Around 1982, a 3rd was filmed... in 3-D (titled Jaws 3, sometimes 3-D). The movie sucked (and is ranked somewhere in the worst 75 movies of all time list here), but not enough for someone to say "Hey! Maybe this should be the last!" So we get Jaws: The Revenge...
(blows flatulence) That is what I think of this movie.
First, you have a pretty bad excuse of actors... and Michael Caine (who did the movie thanks to a s**t load of money, a trip to the Bahamas, and a new vacation mansion built with the money). You have Mario Van Peebles playing the worst stereotype Jamaican of all time, and some other douche with a beard as Michael Brody.
The plot is even more ridiculous. A Great White Shark TAKES REVENGE ON A FAMILY. Didn't ANYONE watch Jaws 2, where the woman says "Sharks don't take things personally"? I would assume not. So, in a MAJOR SPOILER, Sean Brody is killed by a mysterious shark (while getting his limbs ripped off, losing bucket loads of blood) he is still very much conscious, and able to scream for his life with the energy of a 6 year old on crack. Last I checked, people who lose THAT much blood are either passed out or dead, not screaming and clinging on to things the whole time, pretending nothing happened.
So, Ellen Brody decides to go on Vacation with her son Michael, and his wife and daughter... TO THE BAHAMAS. Yes, going from an island of the coast of whatever to another Island makes so much f****** sense. Somehow, a shark, mind you ones that cannot survive in the warm waters off the Caribbean, follows them... 5,000 miles in a span of 2 days. Sharks can only travel 30-ish MPH I thought, and if it takes a plane to fly from Eastern United States to Japan 18-20 hours, it will take a s**t load more time than 40 hours for a f****** shark to swim from the Northeastern United States to Carribena Islands.
The Shark is also excruciatingly bad. While the first one at least looked SOMEWHAT real, this one looks like a condom painted gray and with eyes, a.k.a a piece of s*** rubber. Not only that, the thing barely has ANY movement, and in many scenes, the contraption DRAGGING the "shark" along the ocean floor is clearly visible. I guess filming in such light and warm waters wasn't such a great idea, was it? Also, you can even see the outer working material holding the shark together!!! The less said about how this thing could stand on its fin and roar like a lion... for 30 seconds, the better.
I think I've said enough, as right now it's just pissing me off that they went from an All-time Classic in Jaws to this pile of garbage. I would rather watch The Cat in the Hat on a 72 hour loop than watch this crap again. -
Although widely regarded as the worst of the series, I found this to be at least as good as JAWS 3, if not possibly better. For a "bad" movie, JAWS: THE REVENGE is pretty easy viewing, with crystal-clear photography and a good soundtrack (basically an upbeat riff on the classic John Williams music). The most criminal thing about this film is the first fifty minutes, where we hardly see any "shark" at all. Instead, the time consists of people and their relationships, with lots of bonding, moody characters, fights, and the occasional shark attack to keep the plot moving. The film is "bad", ie. cheesy, at the opening and close, but ironically these are the most enjoyable parts of the movie; the worst part is the boring middle.
Things kick off promisingly with an attack on the younger son of Brody. After much thrashing and screaming the boy resides in his boat...MISSING AN ARM! He proceeds to clutch at the bleeding stump and scream repeatedly, only for his cries to be drowned out by carol singers! After this the shark makes short work of the rest of his body. Well, an opening which contained poor acting and some surprisingly explicit gore bodes well for the rest of the movie, but unfortunately they then forgot about the shark and things become a human drama instead.
This time around, Lorraine Gary returns from JAWS and JAWS 2. She's a little wiser and a little older, and basically has developed Scheider's fear of the water. Gary must have needed the money to appear in this, as she had bowed out of the previous instalment. Her surviving son is now played by the bland and bearded Lance Guest. Guest is absolutely boring and his character a ridiculous snob who despises Michael Caine for being a pilot. What a jerk!
The further down the cast you go, the more interesting actors you find. One I did like was Mario Van Peebles as Guest's Jamaican partner, who helps him do undersea research. Peebles makes the best of his clichéd character and is the funniest, most likable person in the movie. Eagle-eyed viewers may well spot Peebles' dad, Melvin, appearing in a cameo. So, the rest of the cast are all no-names, right? Yes, they're all much of a muchness but WAIT! Who's this?
Michael Caine? Surely it can't be THE Michael Caine, can it? But yes, Caine is in this film as a hilarious bumbling pilot called Hoagie. Well, much has been surmised of Caine's decision to appear in this movie, the general consensus being that he must have had financial difficulties at the time. All I can say is that I love his performance, no matter how bad it is, and regard him as one of the film's highlights!
After much talk and too much sentimentalising, the ending is suddenly upon us and retreads the old "survivors on a boat vs. the shark" routine. However, this is so-bad-it's-hilarious stuff, with the shark STANDING in the water at one point on its tail! This is so a pole jutting from the prow of the boat can impale it, thus causing the shark to bleed profusely and fall to bits. The shark is shown in the open far too often in this movie, and looks much more fake than it did previously with a real lack of movement. Due to technical incompetence, it's also possible to spot the machinery controlling the model for much of the film. However, these are all plus points! While not a brilliant film by any means, JAWS: THE REVENGE is unmissable viewing for bad movie fans as a night of cheesy entertainment. -
There seems little point in writing a review for such a film as Jaws: The Revenge, as those who have made it past the tagline and still given it an iota of consideration have likely already made up their minds as to whether or not they can stomach such an overwhelming inundation of garbage. With that in mind, as no reader could feasibly read with the intent of deciding whether the film is bad or good, this review will focus on a more comprehensive breakdown of the film's countless flaws. And rest assured that no matter how many innumerable detractions the movie has garnered, its atrocities becoming almost over-hyped, the film still manages to astound by the numerous fronts in which it completely fails to register any vestige of quality whatsoever.
Even those seeking the film as an entertainingly terrible comedy will find themselves disappointed, as the film somehow manages to avoid the pitfall of usual B movie melodramatic hysteria, emerging as simply dull and all the more terrible as consequence. The film's complete lack of quality becomes instantly clear from the chaotically choppy cinematography and editing, betraying the film's seemingly near non-existent budget. Similarly, the creative black hole of a script somehow bests its own storyline absurdities by shamelessly stealing elements from Spielberg's classic original through clunky, senseless flashbacks (Ellen Brody recalls her husband killing the shark, despite not having been there to witness it) and in certain cases blatant plundering and rehashing of scenes (the charming interplay between Roy Scheider and his son from the first Jaws is leeringly plagiarized, devoid of any redeeming values whatsoever).
All of which goes without mentioning the most glaring absurdities of the very premise: a shark seeking vengeance against family members of one who once killed a completely unrelated shark, enough so to track them to the Bahamas shows such a staggering lack of logic that one wonders how the film could possibly have been greenlit in the first place. But in this twisted reality, such qualms are easily explained away, as is the shark's outracing planes, standing on its tail, roaring and spontaneously combusting - it is difficult to imagine anything sealing the film's utter absence of quality any further.
While Spielberg masked the clunky falsities of his mechanical shark by mostly obscuring it with subjective point of view camera work, director Joseph Sargent appears to positively revel in his antagonist's foibles, keeping his obviously fake shark in plain view to a comical extent. Similarly, viewers are even denied a high body count of entertainingly poor shark attacks, as the film's near non-existent carnage is devoid of any campy gruesomeness, resorting to extreme close-ups of the absurdly unconvincing attacks, generating less menace than watching a snail crawl.
As a secondary character, the relatively poor acting of Lorraine Gary's Ellen Brody was for the most part easy to miss, but thrust into a lead role and her complete lack of a performance is unmistakable. Embarrassingly melodramatic or completely devoid of emotion depending on the scene, the banality of Gary's imbalanced attempted character is one of the film's weaker points, which is saying a lot. As her allegedly heroic son, Lance Guest's height of emotional intensity appears to be a slightly bewildered stare, proving comical at best, but little more. The hilariously ill-advised Michael Caine (the only cast member to escape with his career intact, and must have collected a considerable paycheque) usually appears to be reading his lines from a teleprompter offscreen with the same lack of emotion one would expect, and the absurdity of his sporadic romance with the far older Ellen Brody only furthers the stupidity. Finally, Mario Van Peebles is simply inexcusable; his atrociously bad Jamaican accent is a constant tarnish on the film's already consistently sullied quality, and once again, he fails to be over the top bad enough to prove enjoyable, simply resulting as noisy and pathetic.
Astoundingly horrible only scratches the surface of what can be considered no less than a masterpiece of lapsed logic and catastrophic film-making, even failing on the front of being overblown enough to make a suitable unintentional comedy. While the film's atrocious quality is hardly a surprise, it still boggles the mind simply how bad an outcome it was possible to achieve. In fact, the film's laughably ludicrous tagline "This time it's personal" could well apply to the audiences watching the film: this time the franchise is not only resoundingly poor, but a personal insult to every last viewer unfortunate enough to find themselves watching it.
-1/10 -
Jacobo18 July 1999Mario Van Peebles said it best when, near the end of this movie, he said, "I'm gonna give dat shark a meal he never forget!"
Ah, yes... a bad actor (in a bad film with an even worse script) IS a meal worthy of severe indigestion. I popped Tums like popcorn during the entire viewing time.
I cannot recall the last time I actually heard a shark "roar", as does the one in this poor-man's Moby Dick. I knew that I'd heard that roar someone else, and my wife kindly pointed out that it sounded just like Spot, the Munsters' fire-breathing pet dragon who lived under the stairs. Moreover, the shark in "Jaws: The Revenge" performed such amazing aquatic feats that certainly it must have been trying out for the Olympic synchronized swimming team.
If it's terror and vengeance on the high seas you're thirsting for, take my advice: bypass this last installation in the Jaws saga and curl up with a reliable volume of Melville instead. -
Hayden-860554 July 2020Jaws: The Revenge is a very silly film, the fact that this was meant to bring the jaws saga more down to earth after the average but infinitely superior Jaws 3 is bizzare.
Surprise surprise Michael Caine makes an appearance here, no idea what convinced him to star in this (money perhaps??!!?) but he seems thoroughly bored. The actual shark model is shockingly bad and the films' plot is stupid, murderous shark stalking them or something I don't even know.
Acting wise it was pretty poor but I have seen worse, which is saying something. And despite the awful quality a couple of the scenes are fairly well shot and ok the music wasn't that bad but it couldn't have been much worse than the amazing Jaws theme as they basically just copy that with a cheesy 80s spin.
2/10: I would not suggest this, stop at Jaws 2 or if you're a big fan 3 may be worth a watch. But not this, never this -
Gigante10 July 2000Ok its a Jaws film. After the classic original, the underated follow up Jaws 2 and the totally dire Jaws 3-D, people were hoping for a lot for this. And they were left with little.
The first 10 or so minutes were alright with the first attack. You are thinking 'oh well its started well.' Now if you take out the next 50 minutes or so and cut straight to the banana boat scene then this film would kick ass.
There is way too much talking in this film. People may argue that the first had a lot of talking in, but at least it was separated by some good shark bits.
*Spoilers*
The banana boat attack scene is truly wonderful, especially when the camera pans back from the view of the people on the boat and they watch as the women being eaten in the water. You can see her kicking and splashing like hell to try and break free but its not use. This attack is my favourite out of all the Jaws films.
*End spoiler*
Depending on what version of this you get you will be confronted with different endings. The one that makes the most sense is the one where Jake is killed because the shark doesn't explode, simply is spiked with the mast. But the other ending sucks and should be destroyed.
The worst point of this film has easily got to be the shark. You would have thought after all of this time they could have made a better shark. At least 'Bruce' from the original didn't have a whopping big thing stuck in his chest. Again depending on what version you have, if you look carefully in the scene where the shark attacks and then chases Michael underwater.....you can see numerous shots of the shark......with its underbelly missing. You can see the insides of it where its been made with wood or whatever!!!! And then there is gigantic 'thing' hanging from it. This will have been the control panel and where the divers moved the shark along. But the camera work clearly shows this. No attempt to hide it is made and this completely undermines the whole film. The best part about the first was that you were guessing to what the shark looked like and only shown it towards the end. You didn't see any cameras or interior design in it. This shark has got to be the worst piece of construction ever. And its mouth is ridiculous. It's gums are gigantic and there is about a 3 inch gap between its gum and its lip. Why? We know that its because they needed to make modifications like this to make it move easier. But it is stupid.
There is a big rumour about a possible fifth film. After the recent CGI success of Deep Blue Sea's sharks (even though the film sucked in many people's mind..not mine) please lets get a decent scary looking shark....that will make people afraid to go back into the water. If you had watched this and seen a real life shark, you would have probably laughed in its face and looked underneath it to see if had any wires or mechanics attached.
This film had little hints of success in it. Michael Caine does his best to lift the film but even one liners such as 'its probably had a heart attack....humans are full of colesterols' don't save this film from the trash heap.
Still better than 3 though. -
I just don't see why this film would be in the bottom one hundred. I realize there are some flaws but as a whole I really don't feel this is a bad film at all. The acting was really good. Lorraine Gary really was convincing as a paranoid widow. I understand that the fact that a great white shark following them to Bremuda is a little hard to believe, but this film is basically about how the Brody family for some reason have always been cursed by sharks. It's also about confronting your fears. Michael Cain plays a very likable bloke and Lance Guest and Mario Peebles are solid actors. The special effects aren't the greatest, but I didn't feel they were the worst ever either. Some of my favorite moments include the opening credits sequence set to Michael Small's pulse pounding score. In fact, this theme is an excellent extension of the original theme written by John Williams. It's a soundtrack I listen to often (yes, I even own a very rare promo CD of the score). Speaking of 'Jaws The Revenge' memorabilia, I actually have a framed original one sheet to this film hanging on my door... but back to my favorite scenes...
The banana boat sequence was suspenseful and the moment where Michael Caine's plane swoops over the boat just in time to see the shark rise up from the ocean is excellent.
There are some great things going on in this film and I think people should back off and take a look at the film and forget about all the vitriol it so undeservedly gets. -
gavin694212 October 2010The shark (or sharks, assuming the original shark is quite dead) has it in for the Brody family of Amity. But Ellen (Lorraine Gary, the only original cast member) is determined to stop that son of a gun. But she just might lose a few family members along the way...
It's really great that Lorraine Gary came back to keep the continuity strong, even as we reach the fourth installment. There is also a large, prominent photo of Roy Scheider in the police station, so he made an appearance here, as well (sort of). After that, it becomes a bit of a stretch.
The "script is lamentable," according to Howard Maxford. Apparently he hasn't watch a lot of horror sequels -- this one is something like Shakespeare in comparison. But he is right if he is implying that it makes no sense. What's with the extremely unlikely attacks on the Brody family... what the? Sharks that have picked them out and even (through some magical power) tracked them to the Bahamas?
There are some respectable guest stars, including the gambling-addicted Michael Caine, and Mario Van Peebles. Caine alone makes this film a lot more tolerable. His voice soothes me in a way that not even warm milk and a shoulder rub can match.
I'm not going to lie to you and say this is on par with "Jaws", but I will say this: it's not as bad as other sequels (like "Leprechaun in da Hood"), and not even as bad as other shark movies ("Megalodon"). If you make it through the first three films, give this one a go.