Jaws: The Revenge

Jaws: The Revenge; disaster movie, USA, 1987; D: Joseph Sargent, S: Lorraine Gary, Lance Guest, Mario Van Peebles, Michael Caine

Amity Island. After her son Sean gets killed by a shark on Christmas Eve, Ellen Brody is shocked so her other son Michael, a sea biologist, decides to take her to the Bahamas to take her mind off depressive thoughts. She meets a charming pilot, Hoagie, and gets to spend more time with her granddaughter Thea. However, the big white shark follows them and attacks again. Ellen takes a ship to settle the score once and for all. With the help of Michael, Jake and Hoagie, she manages to kill the huge fish with the boat.

By title, concept and an occasional actor 3rd sequel to the "Jaws" franchise, "The Revenge" ended the movie series since it really did not have anything more to add to it, just like the previous two sequels. The original "Jaws" is a timeless hydrophobic classic that actually offered intelligent scare for the audience; "Jaws 2" is just a tiresome copy-paste sequel, though it ended up being a solid horror, while "Jaws 3" is the worst contribution, an entirely insane flick. Part IV is bland, stiff and empty, but watchable movie thanks mostly to the charming performance by veteran actor Michael Caine as Hoagie, the eccentric pilot, and an occasional good idea - such as the opening where the underwater shot dissolves into a shot of a fish on the frying pan - and humorous quotes (during a rehearsal for a Christmas song, the director shouts "Where the hell are the Three wise men?"; "Mental midget."). Actually, if it weren't for the shark, the love subplot involving Hoagie and Ellen Brody would actually have some potential for a good film on its own. The cheap scares and horror elements are trashy, boring and lukewarm, whereas the finale is patchwork, which is why it is good nobody insisted on a 5th movie since the story really didn't have any more sense - or need - to go on.

Grade:+