Jaws 2, Jaws 3, Jaws: The Revenge

I re-watched these three sequels recently -- my verdict is that they did not age very well, especially Part 2 and Part 3 - I found those to be so dull and boring to watch. 

As for Part 2 - Who cares about the people on Amity Island? I mean, really? Give us some characters to like or care about besides Chief Brody. Or his kids. At least make them interesting. The Mayor is a jerk--- it would've been really satisfying to see him get eaten by the shark. 

Jaws 3 is also very dull. The characters aren't interesting, not even Dennis Quaid. Louis Gossett is supposed to play a greedy corporate type, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to like him or not. I kind of like the idea of a shark attacking a theme park - think of all the various situations that could happen--but there's not much to it. The best part only happens in the last 10 minutes when the shark breaks through the glass - it should have happened 2 hours sooner. I always remember - Jurassic World (2015), which handled suspense and thrills at a theme park much better.

To my surprise, the Jaws sequel I enjoyed the most out of these three was the most critically panned one - Jaws the Revenge. It's almost universally panned as one of the worst movies and sequels ever made. Except by me. I found I actually liked it on this re-watch. I first saw it when it came out in theaters in 1987, and at the time, I didn't think it was great, but I didn't hate it either. There is some subtle adult humor and dialogue by some of the characters - including the marine biologist (Mario Van Peeples) that went right over my head at the time; I was only about 11 years old. I liked Peeples' character, and also liked the diversity of the cast which is really refreshing. And I liked the Brody widow/mom/grandmom and Michael Caine relationship - it was totally believable that he would be interested in her. He's such a good actor that he's good even in a crappy movie.

As for the shark stuff. Well I dunno about that. I do like that the Brody mom finally leaves Amity and goes to live somewhere else. But another killer shark following her and attacking her family even after she moves??? You really have to turn off part of your brain to enjoy this film I think. 

There is a spiritual/magical/mystical element to it that I kind of liked, and wished was explored more in this film. From what I read, the original plan was to have someone put a voodoo curse put on the Brody Family and have a shark attack them no matter where they go. That would actually explain a whole lot about this movie. But that specific element \got cut from the film, unfortunately. Apparently, the novelization of the film has the curse in place. 

One thing I didn't like - the ending...it's really bad - it's not clear what happens to the shark. That's the worst thing about it in my opinion. I guess it's good that no other Jaws movies were made after that. And hopefully these sequels are lessons to future filmmakers on how to make good sequels and avoid bad ones.

Still, out of all the Jaws sequels, Jaws:The Revenge is my favorite.