I’ve never liked “Jaws: The Revenge.” Even as a kid who would watch anything that was on TV, I would often doze off during “The Revenge.” And that’s saying a lot since the movie technically has killer sharks in it. I’m glad I’m not in the minority as “The Revenge” has ranked up there with embarrassing sequels like “Staying Alive” and “The Exorcist II” and for good reason. “The Revenge” is a further slap in the face of the 1975 film, first killing off one of Brody’s children to a—ahem—vengeful shark. And then we later come to learn that Martin Brody has also died off screen from a massive heart attack. So that’s it? Brody gets a cheap off screen death, and the shark gets a very goofy movie serial revenge arc. Got it.
The family of widow Ellen Brody has long been plagued by shark attacks, and this unfortunate association continues when her son is the victim of a massive great white. In mourning, Ellen goes to visit her other son, Michael, in the Bahamas, where she meets the charming Hoagie Newcombe. As Ellen and Hoagie begin a relationship, a huge shark appears off the coast of the island, and Ellen’s trouble with the great whites begins again.
“The Revenge” is only ninety minutes but feels so much longer since it concocts such a goofy premise. To make things worse the pacing and suspense and lack thereof make the movie in to such a chore. Even worse, Joe Sargeant wastes a great cast like Lance Guest, Mario Van Peebles, and Michael Caine respectively. “Jaws: The Revenge” is just a complete waste of time, a movie that feels built around the chance to give Lorraine Gary her own vehicle and perhaps spin off. The problem is that Gary’s work as Ellen Brody is powerful because of her working with Roy Scheider and other cast members.
Here Ellen is not an interesting primary protagonist and the writers’ attempts to give her something new to do, such as being endowed with some inexplicable mental link with the vengeful shark, is so idiotic and stupid. There are so many baffling twists and turns here, as well as the deep dive in to melodrama that not even the original film fell victim to. By now the whole idea of the Brody’s battling sharks has worn so thin that even losing one of Martin’s sons in the prologue of the movie has zero effect and feels more cheaply placed as a means of dragging the movie forward against its will.
“Jaws: The Revenge” relies on Lorraine Gary to carry the movie, when it should have wisely stuck to the ensemble formula and allow her co-stars to help bring the movie to the finish line. Shots from previous movies are re-used, the effects are terrible, and there is zero suspense at any point during the film’s merciful short ninety minutes runtime.
“The Revenge” is the obvious nail in the coffin for a series that was already running on fumes since “Jaws 3D,” that not even bad movie apologists can really make a reasonable argument for, when all is said and done.