Critic Reviews
51
Metascore
Mixed or Average
positive
4(33%)
mixed
8(67%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 12 Critic Reviews
80
Despite a notable but effective change in story emphasis, Jaws 2 is a worthy successor in horror, suspense and terror to its 1975 smash progenitor.
70
Directorially, last minute replacement director Jeannot Szwarc has done a nice job and there's some really nice photography here.
70
The surprise in Jaws 2 is that, given the givens, it came out as well as it did. For me, in terms of sheer visceral zapping, it’s better than the first time around (or under).
63
For a film about deep water terror, Jaws 2 is really quite shallow. [16 June 1978, p.3-2]
60
It never comes close to the classic status of its predecessor, but for drive-in horror thrills, this still has sufficient bite.
60
More a remake than a sequel, this production seems like a pointless effort. With a plot virtually identical to that of the first film, the only real difference between the two--and it is significant--is that Spielberg didn't direct this one.
50
Jaw 2 is not a shipwreck of a movie; it'll make you jump now and then, like a boring guy tickling your ribs. But it lacks the style and intelligence that director Steven Spielberg brough to the original "Jaws". Jennot Szwarc, a French-born teveision specialist, come nowhere near Spielberg's blend of kinetic drive and comic touch. [19 June 1978, p.74]
50
Jaws 2 isn't a disgraceful self-imitation, but one sampling should be enough. It may inspire nothing so much as a nostalgic hunger to see "Jaws" again.
40
Some of the action sequences have been well staged, but they've been dropped into the film so indiscriminately that Jaws 2 never builds to a particular climax. It simply drones on and on and on, like a television movie.
40
Suspension of disbelief might have been possible had this been a ripping good yarn; but the kids are just plain silly, and it's a toss-up to decide which is more unconvincing, the shark or Scheider.
