Jaws The Revenge (Part 1)

AKA Jaws 4 / Jaws IV / Jaws ’87

Director: Joseph Sargent

Seeing as we are close to Christmas, what better time to do something a bit different; branch out and look at a film from the States for a change. Admittedly probably not essential viewing for most people at Christmas time, this week’s film is actually set at Christmas and therefore has enough of a tenuous link for me to feature it here. Plus if I want to be a complete dick about it, “Jaws The Revenge” does have themes of families coming back together which is a common Christmas movie trope. I’m not alone in classing it as a Christmas film though, as ITV4 seem to roll it out at this time of year too, but I suspect that’s more to do with needing something to fill air time rather than attempting to make a statement about its worthiness to be up there with the likes of other beloved Christmas films.

Often named one of the worst movies ever made (by people that haven’t seen that many films), “Jaws The Revenge” is a fascinating product of its time. I have read several articles by people trying to work out how and why this film was made, in fact, one of the frequently asked questions on IMDB was simply: “why?”. The theory I buy into the most is that it was an attempt by Universal to try and cash in on the success of “Aliens” released the year prior. Ellen Brody taking place of Ellen Ripley and a great white shark taking place of hoards of aliens with acid for blood. “Jaws” was an established franchise, despite diminishing returns with the sequels, and it also helps that Lorraine Gary, was married to the then chief executive of Universal Studios, Sidney Sheinberg. Clearly one more Jaws sequel was a no brainer but not wanting to miss the boat (pun intended), the project was rushed into production and had a very short production period.

The plot involves Ellen Brody taking a trip to the Bahamas after a family tragedy (involving a shark) only for said shark to follow her there and carnage ensues. The film jumps head first into this plot which makes it a bit hard to swallow whereas in the novelisation of the film by Howard Sanks (which yes, I do own) it is slightly fleshed out by stating a witch doctor put a curse on the Brody family, using the shark as a way of getting revenge, presumably because of a run in he had with Chief Brody in the past (the witch doctor, not the shark). Even with this explanation, the plot still jumps the shark somewhat (pun also intended) but with that bit of information missing from the final film it just seems that the shark is out to avenge the death of the other sharks from Jaws 1-3. I can’t tell what’s more absurd, a shark out for revenge or a bitter voodoo master controlling a shark.

Reportedly, director Joseph Sargent was given pretty much free reign creatively and the idea of the vengeful shark came out of desperation to try and do something different. Whilst this is an interesting insight, Joseph Sargent can’t take all the blame for this. Everyone knew they were making a movie about a possessed shark following a single family from Amity (Martha’s Vineyard) to the Bahamas to avenge the deaths of his sharky friends (which is a journey that a shark would not be able to make in the timeframe depicted in the film, or at all, I suspect).

On an interesting side note, the film was originally slated to be called “Jaws 87’”, with even a short interview with star Mario Van Peebles referring to it as such. Presumably the number denoting the year of release rather than a meta joke about how many sequels there has been. There is of course the joke in “Back To The Future Part II” where there is an advert for “Jaws 19”, mocking the amount of sequels there had been, which is a low blow considering there are far worse offenders. I guess the point is “Jaws” never really needed a sequel but that’s also true in most cases. Bizarrely, in some promotional material for “Jaws The Revenge”, Universal referred to the movie as the “third film in the remarkable Jaws trilogy”, presumably discounting “Jaws 3”, which whilst being nowhere near as good as the original, it’s hardly bad enough to write out of Jaws history when compared to the others.

“Jaws The Revenge” also continues the tradition of “Jaws” sequels having awesome tag lines, following in the footsteps of “just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water” and “the third dimension is terror” because “this time it’s personal” although it does makes it sound like a “Death Wish” sequel rather than a film about a killer shark.

Anyway, that’s enough babbling, so without further ado, let’s put on our scuba gear and dive deep into the murky cinematic waters of “Jaws The Revenge”.

The film opens underwater, as we get the standard POV shot of the shark, circling the island of Amity. The shark seems to be weaving in and out of the docks which I’m fairly certain it would be too large to do. There is an alternate version of this opening which has made an appearance on some television broadcasts which features a voice over in an attempt to set the viewer up for what they’re about to see but it’s a feeble attempt really as nothing can prepare viewers for this. It’s worth pointing out at this stage that I am reviewing the bog standard UK DVD release of the film but there are other versions of the film out there and I will give a bit of detail about those as we go along.

After the opening credits, we cut to a close up of a fish eye. No, it’s not a shark but a fish that Ellen Brody is frying in her kitchen. The way the shot is framed is slightly reminiscent of the photo of the shark in “Jaws 2” but I doubt this is an intentional homage. The next shot is very odd; we see Ellen’s hand moving from the frying pan to the fridge but the footage has been sped up. Why? To make it seem more dramatic? To shorten the run time? It makes no sense!

Here we are also introduced to Ellen’s youngest son, Sean Brody, (played by Mitchell Anderson). There’s some awkward family banter between Ellen and Sean before the telephone rings. It’s Ellen’s eldest son, Michael (played by Lance Guest), calling from the Bahamas where he is currently residing with his wife and daughter. It’s at this stage it becomes very clear that the acting is… well… a bit shit. It’s a tad better than soap opera acting but just gnats dick worse than TV movie acting. Sean is pretty insufferable and am glad we don’t have to spend much time with his wife either because she seems even worse.

We then cut to Sean heading to the Amity police department where he is now the deputy. It’s also at this point we realise that it is close to Christmas. There are decorations in the streets of Amity and a choir can be heard practising ready for a concert. Surely it would have been better to practice inside so the public can’t hear it? Why is anyone going to want to attend when they’ve heard it already when they were out shopping? The fact that Sean has followed in his father’s footsteps is really hammered home when we see a huge photo of Roy Scheider as Chef Brody hanging on the wall in the police office. This could have been a nice touch if the photo had been smaller and not a press photo from “Jaws”, which the photo in question clearly is.

Sean behaves like a bit of a dick to his secretary by constantly saying goodnight to her even though she is only trying to tell him that there is a job that needs doing. Eventually he relents and agrees to do the job (you know… HIS job) and go out in his boat to remove a piece of wood that has got caught on a buoy. As Sean makes his way to the dock he passes the conductor of the choir who is getting more and more frustrated – “Joseph, where the hell is your robe? You’re supposed to be in costume! Jesus!” “I’m over here!” replies a young boy, which I have to be honest, did make me chuckle.

Sean makes his way over to the buoy and attempts to hook a rope around the log to pull it loose but the shark suddenly bursts from the water, followed by some very quick cuts of teeth and blood. As Sean stumbles back into the boat, he realises his arm has just been bitten clear off. Sean screams for help towards land but is drowned out by the sound of the choir singing Christmas carols.

The shark reappears the other side of the boat now and attacks Sean again, followed by more quick cuts of blood and teeth. The next shot shows the side of the boat has been obliterated and Sean is missing. Seconds later Sean appears in the water, gripping the log that was earlier caught on the buoy and continues screaming for help but to no avail, as he is pulled under whilst the boat slowly begins to sink out of sight. Blood begins bubbling up from the spot where Sean disappeared, followed by the log now covered in teeth marks.

This scene is pretty creepy and effective. Sean’s blood curdling cries juxtaposed with the choir singing does give me a shudder, however, the editing ultimately lets the scene down. It would seem that there was no model shark present during the filming so quick clips of shark footage from later in the film is used, as well as what appears of stock footage of a real shark, to signify the shark attacking. Sadly this doesn’t work. Also, did the shark place the log in the buoy, in the hope it would bring Sean out so he could be attacked? Or was it a coincidence? At this stage of the film I would be inclined to say it was a coincidence however after finishing the film I’m inclined to say the former.

We then see Ellen identifying Sean’s body before she is handed a small box of his belongings. “I thought you’d want them” the policeman says, even though the biggest thing in the box is Sean’s gun, which I would have thought would be police property, and surely it’s slightly irresponsible giving a bereaved woman a gun? Now back at the house, Ellen’s eldest son, Michael, arrives with his wife, Carla, (played by Karen Young) and daughter, Thea, (played by Judith Barsi) from the Bahamas.

Michael is greeted by a number of faces you may recognise from the original “Jaws” film as they watch Ellen sobbing outside. We also hear that Sean’s wife has been sedated… this might sound harsh but I’m glad… maybe consider leaving her like that. Michael goes outside to comfort his mother, something the array of neighbours and friends in the living room couldn’t be bothered to do, and here Ellen drops a line of dialogue that encompasses the direction the rest of the film is going in – “It came for him, it waited all this time and it came for him.” “What?” replies Michael, exactly Michael… what indeed.

The next chunk of the film feels very melodramatic. Ellen goes from behaving manically to sobbing to smiling as she remembers the good times when Sean and her husband were alive, but only events that appeared in “Jaws”, regardless of if Ellen was present or not (and more on that later). Ellen explains to Michael that she doesn’t want him going near the water anymore because the shark supposedly picked out Sean, the fear of the shark killed her husband (even though he faced sharks head on in two separate occasions and actually died of a heart attack). Michael, who is now a marine biologist, explains to his mother that the water in the Bahamas is too warm for great white sharks and is perfectly safe. “You can’t believe that voodoo” Michael explains, which is the only thing left in the film that hints at the black magic explanation for the shark wanting to seek revenge.

We are then treated to a scene of Michael and Carla taking a stroll along the beach as Michael begins talking angrily about “just a stupid stick” (presumably referring to the log from earlier) and then reminisces about Sean fondly and then suddenly runs off mid-sentence! It’s a confusing scene, did they run out of script? Did Lance Guest forget his lines? It doesn’t make sense! How are we meant to be invested in the dialogue if the characters aren’t? What’s even more strange is that Michael is borderline mumbling his words before he runs off, as if he was making it up on the spot and when he does start running it is accompanied by some emotional, almost triumphant music, despite the scene playing out as melancholic more than anything else. Also, are we to assume at this point that everyone apart from Ellen thinks the log (or stick) caused Sean’s death? Surely the body would be covered in shark bites?!

After Sean’s funeral is out of the way, Ellen decides to leave the snowy surroundings of Amity to join Michael, Carla and Thea back in the Bahamas. As the family leave the island and make their way to the mainland to catch their plane, we see the bitten log that Sean was clinging to wash up on the beach. So does this mean the log wasn’t recovered at the time of Sean’s body being found? If so, how did Michael know about it?

In the next scene, we are introduced to Hoagie (played by Michael Caine). Hoagie is a pilot and he is flying Ellen and family on the last leg of their journey. I read somewhere that apparently there was an aerial shot showing the aeroplane flying above the ocean with the shark following them below. Now whilst I would love to think that is true, the absurdity of the shot sounds too much even for this film. Plus if they were unable to actually get the shark present for Sean’s death scene then I doubt they would have been able to pull off a shot of it following the aeroplane.

Michael Caine plays Hoagie as Michael Caine, which isn’t a bad thing I suppose, at least you know what you’re going to get. Famously, Michael Caine wasn’t able to attend the Academy Awards to accept his Oscar for “Hannah And Her Sisters” in person due to filming “Jaws The Revenge”. Caine has also gone on to say that “I have never seen it [the film], but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific!”. Well fair play, at least he’s being honest but personally I would love to hear a first watch Michael Caine “Jaws The Revenge” audio commentary but I fear I might be the only one that does. Hoagie is meant to be a government agent but virtually none of this subplot is present in the film, apart from one bizarre out of place line of dialogue later in the film when he is asked what he does for a living, to which he states “I deliver laundry”, presumably referring to delivering laundered money. This is expanded upon in the novel though should you have a burning desire to learn more about the many adventures of Hoagie.

Once on dry land, Ellen gets herself acquainted with Michael and Carla’s home. Thea has a rope swing that suspends her over the water much to Ellen’s dismay. Carla has a workshop where she welds abstract art, but somehow manages to make a living out of it. Ironically, Carla is currently working on a piece for the local government that looks suspiciously like the jaws of a shark, which Michael stands behind, making it look like he is inside the mouth of a shark. Just to be clear, I don’t think he does it intentionally to taunt his mother, in fact, I think it is only clear to Ellen that it looks like a sharks mouth.

In the next scene we see Ellen having a swim in the sea, and judging by the camera angle from underwater, she is in quite deep water. She becomes spooked by something and stops and judging by the shadows on the ocean floor it would now appear she is suddenly in shallow water – come on movie, a bit continuity please! Ellen decides to head back to the beach when she is attacked by the shark, again represented by quick cuts of teeth and blood. Fear not though, it’s only a dream and Ellen wakes up in a panic. For years I mis-remembered this scene as taking place in a swimming pool, which always amused me but sadly not even this film would be mental enough to stage a shark attack fake out scene in a pool.

The next day we see Michael underwater in his submersible, out tagging sea snails. On the boat above is his friend Jake (played by Mario Van Peebles), along with a small team of helpers. Jake seems frustrated at the speed Michael is working and things come to ahead when Michael is back on the boat when Jake says “You go away, come back a zombie, it’s Christmas Eve, and we’re working overtime ‘cos of you!”. Seems a bit harsh, but the pair make up pretty quickly and to be honest, this scene feels a bit out of place as we learn more about Jake, who is actually one of the more likeable characters in the film.

The next day we see Ellen, Michael, Carla, Thea, Jake and his girlfriend/wife opening Christmas presents – you see, totally a Christmas film. Jake gives Michael a rather colourful shirt, which prompts Jake to say “may your sex life be as busy as your shirt”. I’m sure Thea will awkwardly ask her parents what sex means later. This merriment is too much for Ellen though as she takes a break by going outside and is shortly followed by Michael. Ellen pleads with Michael again to stop working in the ocean but Michael explains that Jake and he are both scientists, they know what they are doing and they are only collecting big snails. And with that we cut to the ocean and get our first look at the shark, supposedly on his journey to the Bahamas.

There’s no getting around it, the shark looks fake. It did in the other movies and it does here. However the shark models can still appear intimidating depending on how it is used and shot. The shark looks a bit battle scared this time around and this is never explained. I suppose it could be meant to be a sort of zombie shark, but the shark from the first film was blown up and the shark from the second film was disfigured and then electrocuted so I’m not sure that really works (and apparently we aren’t counting Jaws 3). This introduction to the shark is odd as there is no build up, it just appears. The previous films made great use of the fin above water to indicate the shark travelling towards something which they could have teased with instead of going straight for a full body shot as it swims past the camera. The previous scene with Ellen and Michael talking with the ocean behind them would have been a great moment to show the fin appear in the distance and would have set up a great sense of foreboding as to what is still to come. There is a definite mechanical improvement with the shark this time around though as it appears have more movement, most notably the tail but this hard work is slightly undone by the fact it appears we can see a seam of sorts, running across the top of the tail and on the side of the model. Sadly the skin doesn’t look quite as good as in the other films too, it looks kind of rough to touch, like roofing felt, whereas previously there has been a slightly glossy sheen. I still like the redesign of the shark though, even if it would seem there really hasn’t been much overall improvement in the way it looks since the first movie 12 years prior.

The next day we see Ellen back on the beach, this time with Thea making sandcastles whilst Hoagie rows his way to shore in a small boat. Suddenly Ellen stands upright and looks out to sea, as if she is sensing something. She is eventually brought out of her daze by Thea asking if she is ok before Hoagie begins his charm offensive. The blossoming relationship between Ellen and Hoagie is actually very sweet and it is nice to see a romance between two people that aren’t below the age of 30 in a film.

Hoagie takes Ellen up in his plane for a leisurely fly around the island. Hoagie virtually forces Ellen to have a go at flying the plane, then tells her off for doing it wrong. We are then treated to some of Hoagie’s “banter” as he begins telling a story about a time when he was dropping supplies in the Amazon, but before he gets too deep into the story, the dialogue fades out. I suppose this is better than just stopping mid-sentence like with Michael earlier but this is a strange editorial choice. If the story that Hoagie was telling served no purpose then don’t include it at all. If it was meant to show that Hoagie was full of tall tails, which he was using to try and charm Ellen, then let him bloody finish.

Out at sea, Michael and Jake are out looking for snails to tag again and this time it’s Jake’s turn to don his wetsuit and go underwater. It’s not long before the shark makes an appearance and saddles up next to Jake in the submersible. Again, I’m sure there could have been a more suspenseful way of the shark appearing than just having him in the shot when we cut to it. Imagine if this was the way the shark appeared when Hooper went down in the cage in the first film!

“We got a big fish down here man” Jake quips in a far too casual manner given the size of the shark that is banging into the side of his rather flimsy submersible. Before Jake is able to give any more detail on the situation, the shark bursts above the water. The shot of the shark appearing is well handled and pretty scary. The shark then proceeds to chow down on the wooden platform of the boat, narrowly missing Michael and another crew member as they clamber out of the way.

The shots of the shark attacking the boat are not all successful. At points it kind of looks like a sort of snake or worm as the dorsal fin is out of shot and then other shots of the shark eating the wood make the model look a little bit cute which I’m sure isn’t meant to be the case. Plus, whatever the shark’s teeth are made of clearly aren’t that strong as some of them snap as they make impact with the wood – oops.

The shark then withdraws back into the water, leaving a pool of blood behind, presumably due to the teeth it just lost. We then intercut with Ellen and Hoagie at a local festival where Ellen has gone into one of her psychic trances again. She soon snaps out of it though and begins dancing to prove to Hoagie that she really is ok. “Sharks come and go Ellen. People have nothing to do with it” Hoagie says now dancing alongside her. What does that even mean?!

Back on the boat, Jake resurfaces full of excitement that they might be able to switch their research from sea snails to a great white shark, a type of shark that has never ventured into these warm waters before. Michael is less than keen but still in a state of shock, he asks Jake not to mention this to his Mum as Michael stares out across the vast expanse of sea in front of him. Jake obliges… For now…

Come back and join me next time when we will look at the second half of “Jaws The Revenge”. If you think there have been some mad moments so far, then you are in for a treat! Merry Christmas all. Stay out of the water!