Directed by Joseph Sargent. Written by Michael de Guzman. Starring Lorraine Gary, Lance Guest, Mario Van Peebles, Karen Young, Lynn Whitfield, Mitchell Anderson, Judith Barsi and Michael Caine.
Plot: ignoring Jaws 3, this movie follows Ellen Brody, now widowed, after she loses her son, Sean, to a shark attack.
Having enjoyed the third Jaws movie, we were bummed that this movie decided to ignore it. We watched it anyway, though, as we do. It starts on Amity Island where Martin Brody is now deceased and his son, Sean (Anderson), is a deputy. One day Sean is called out into the water to clear a log from a buoy and he is killed by a shark. At the funeral, his mother, Ellen (Gary), is convinced by her other son, Michael (Guest), to come to the Bahamas with him and his family. So, she boards a plane with Michael, his wife, Carla (Young) and their young daughter, Thea (Barsi). The pilot of the small plane, Hoagie (Caine), takes an interest in Ellen and they start hanging out in the Bahamas. But, and this is the ridiculous part, the shark that killed Sean has followed Ellen to the Bahamas to kill the rest of her family.
Ellen has pretty much gone crazy because of this shark. She’s having nightmares and she’s sure the shark is coming for them. So, she begs Michael, who is now a marine biologist, to quit his job, but he won’t. Then, he has an encounter with the shark and lies to her about it. He also doesn’t like his mother seeing Hoagie for some reason. Of course, the shark attacks again, this time almost getting Thea, so Ellen goes after the shark all by herself.
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And now, the end. Michael, Hoagie and Michael’s business partner, Jake (Van Peebles), go after Ellen and they all end up in the same boat. Jake gets pulled off the boat by the shark, but somehow survives. At least in the revised ending he doesn’t. In the original version, he does die, but audiences apparently didn’t like that. They also didn’t like that the shark simply bled to death when it was impaled by part of the boat, so in the revised version it explodes, unrealistically, once impaled. Like, what?
The movie was honestly, a little entertaining, but not nearly entertaining enough. For one thing, the science is off and DJ hates that. Sharks are often seen in the Bahamas and everyone in the movie says they aren’t. For another thing, most of the characters are unlikable most of the time. Michael keeps lying to everyone and Ellen is stupid, especially when she decides to leave Michael’s family and Hoagie’s affection and head back to Amity. Hoagie, however, we admit is cool and clearly the best character of the lot. But when is Michael Caine not the the coolest? It’s sad he couldn’t save this movie.
Our score: 30.
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