"it was cool when the shark roared."

-One older kid to another as I, about 5 1/2 years old, was walking out of the theater after watching “Jaws: The Revenge” in the summer of 1987.

Memory is a funny thing, at least to me. There are times when I cannot remember if I turned my car lights off even though I just stepped out of the vehicle, but there are other times when I can vividly remember something that happened 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. Some memories just get burned into your brain, and nothing can eradicate them. The first vivid memory I have of seeing a movie in a theater setting is one of those things that will forever be burned into my brain. “Jaws: The Revenge”, the 1987 sequel directed by Joseph Sargent” is the “first” film I have conscious memories of seeing. While I had been to children's matinees and probably other movies before this, including ones from this particular summer, Jaws: The Revenge is the one that still sticks in my mind. It is a wonder I became such a fan of movies when this film was the one leading the way. There is however, still a special fondness in my heart for “Jaws: The Revenge”, no matter how atrociously bad it is in both concept and execution.

“Jaws: The Revenge” continues the story of the Brody family from the original film and its direct sequel (The third film is ignored). Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary) still lives on Amity Island along with her youngest sun, Sean (Mitchell Anderson). Chief Brody has died, seemingly from a heart attack but the film only says “fear” killed him. More on that in a bit. The “action” of the movie immediately begins when Sean, now a police deputy, has to clear some driftwood from a buoy on cold December evening. A routine job turns tragic when a shark appears, rips Sean’s arm off, and drags him deep into the water. Ellen retreats into grief while her oldest son, Michael (Lance Guest), his wife Carla (Karen Young), and his daughter Thea (Judith Barsi), return to Amity to mourn Sean.

One might think “Jaws: The Revenge” is about to do an interesting approach and tell a story set in Amity during Christmas and the winter in contrast to the usual summer setting, and one would be sadly mistaken. Sargent wastes that idea and whisks everyone down to the Bahamas, which is Michael, Carla, and Thea live while Michael works as a marine biologist alongside his friend Jake (Mario Van Peebles). Ellen, of course, demands to Michael that he gives up his career, which is based on the water, because she senses the shark “is coming” for the rest of the family like it came for Martin and Sean. Once the film gets to the Bahamas, we are also introduced to the character of Hoagie (Michael Caine), a pilot who is always ready to dispense some advice and strikes up a relationship with Ellen. We are also introduced, of course, to the shark, seemingly the one that killed Sean. It has apparently followed the family to the Bahamas, and there in lies the rest of the “conflict” in “Jaws: The Revenge”.

If this sounds scattershot and lacking even the basic levels of sense and logic, you would be correct. The film apparently proposes the shark that killed Sean somehow tracked the family to the Bahamas. Lingering aspects of the film’s original script, one that dealt with an actual voodoo curse driving the shark’s actions, remain confusingly in the final product. Based on Ellen’s comments, the film also proposes that the shark is the same one that Martin dealt with in both movies? That, of course, does not make even the faintest hint of sense considering the shark in the original movie was blown up, and the shark in the second movie was electrocuted. Speaking of those sharks and Chief Brody, let me address my biggest complaint with this film. Chief Brody is dead in this sequel because Roy Scheider wisely did not want anything to do with the sequels at this point. The entire point of “Jaws” is that Chief Brody overcame his fear of the water by killing the shark. It is such an insult to the character and audiences in general when “Jaws: The Revenge” kills the character offscreen because of “fear”. The rest of the film also does a lot of heavy lifting in regards to insulting the audience’s intelligence. Ellen, at multiple points, remembers events that SHE WAS NOT PRESENT TO WITNESS OR EXPERIENCE, such as Chief Brody’s climactic showdown with the shark in the original film.

Most of everything else in the film is a mess. Sargent tries and fails to get the audience to care about Michael and Carla’s martial woes in a vain attempt to add some of the family drama the first film has. When Michael and Thea share a moment that Chief Brody and Sean shared in the original, it produces more groans than nostalgic warmth. The way the film deals with Ellen’s grief is also scattershot and without direction. Her son just got killed in a brutal shark attack, and many of the characters stress to her that she needs to get over the grief JUST DAYS LATER. The film really does have no sense of time or place, whether it’s the fact a shark swam from New England to the Bahamas in a matter of days or how humans process a sudden and horrific incident. Then there is the climax, where it is a jumbled mess of flawed editing and the shark roaring in defiance of all laws of nature.

The only shining light in this movie is the performance of Michael Caine. His performance in “Jaws: The Revenge” has been the subject of a famous story regarding how the film financed the construction of his house, but he is in no way phoning in the role. He adds a genuine warmth to Hoagie, who tries to help a grieving woman process the death of her son and husband. It is best to view his scenes as existing in a completely different movie, one where a shark did not apparently follow a family from New England to the Bahamas. I am sure he knew the film around him was garbage, but he was not going to go down with the ship and let his performance contribute to the chaos.

Even with all these incredible flaws, “Jaws: The Revenge” movie still holds a special play in my heart. I might be highly critical of the film, but it is still one of my favorite “bad movies”. The movie came out right after I had seen the original Jaws and the two subsequent sequels for the first time. I could not get enough of any movie called “Jaws”, and that meant going to see “Jaws: The Revenge” in a theater at 5 1/2 years old. I still hold the memories I made in that theater in suburban Birmingham, Alabama close to my heart. I still remember the way that theater looked, how it was designed, and where everything was located. Even though the movie itself is atrocious from a critical standpoint, “Jaws: The Revenge” is a foundational element of who I am as a movie lover and someone who loves the theatrical experience. It might be one of the worst movies ever made, complete with the shark actually roaring, but “Jaws: The Revenge” will always be special to me.

This review is part of my From the Vault series showcasing movies of the past I have decided to visit or revisit and review.

Jaws: The Revenge
(Joseph Sargent, 1987)
⭐️