Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
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A widowed woman becomes convinced that a great white shark is hunting her family in the Bahamas as a matter of personal revenge.
The story
Following the death of her husband Martin, Ellen Brody remains in Amity, Massachusetts, near her younger son Sean and his fiancée. When Sean is killed by a great white shark while clearing a buoy, Ellen becomes convinced the predator is targeting her family. She joins her older son Michael, a marine biologist, and his wife Carla in the Bahamas. Despite Michael's warnings about the dangers of the ocean, Ellen's obsession with the shark's perceived vendetta leads her to seek out the predator, eventually leading to a tense confrontation in the tropical waters.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After her husband Martin Brody dies of a heart attack, Ellen Brody lives in Amity with her younger son Sean. Sean is killed by a great white shark while working as a police deputy. Ellen's older son, Michael, a marine biologist, arrives from the Bahamas with his wife Carla and daughter Thea. Ellen insists they return to the Bahamas, where she believes the shark is following them. Michael's colleague, Jake McCay, joins them to research the shark, which is unusual for the warm waters. Jake attaches a tracking device to the shark, but it leads to a series of attacks. Thea is nearly killed on a banana boat, prompting Ellen to take matters into her own hands. She boards Jake's boat to hunt the shark. During a chaotic sequence, the shark drags a plane carrying Michael, Jake, and the pilot Hoagie underwater. Jake is mauled but manages to deploy an electrical impulse device into the shark's mouth. In the climax, Ellen steers a sailboat toward the shark, imagining past events, and rams the boat's bowsprit into it. In the original US theatrical version, the shark is impaled and bleeds out; in the revised international version, it explodes. Jake survives in the revised ending, while Hoagie flies Ellen back to Amity.
- First release year
- 1987
- Runtime (minutes)
- 90
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Joseph Sargent
- Writers
- Michael de Guzman · writer
- Cast and characters
- Lorraine Gary · Ellen Brody; Lance Guest · Mike; Mario Van Peebles · Jake McCay; Karen Young · Carla; Michael Caine · Hoagie Newcombe; Mitchell Anderson · Sean; Lynn Whitfield · Louisa
- Genres
- thriller; horror
- Themes
- obsession; fear; family dynamics
- Tone and mood
- tense; mystical
- Premise and plot tags
- sequel; revenge; shark attack; dysfunctional family
- Source material / true-story basis
- Based on the Jaws franchise (specifically Jaws 2)
- Franchise connections
- Jaws
- Reception
- The film was universally panned by critics and audiences, often cited as one of the worst films of all time, and was a commercial disappointment, barely breaking even.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 15 · scale: 100 · review count: 15
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Raspberry Award · Worst Actress · Nomination; Saturn Award · Best Actress · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was made in less than nine months.; The film was the first of the series to be released on DVD.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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