This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversaryofSteven Spielberg’sJaws. Its colossal successcreated the summer blockbuster, and for a while, it was the highest-grossing movie of all time. Five decades later, the classic horror movie still has a powerful grip on audiences, having been passed down through generations. But then there were the sequels, which Spielberg had nothing to do with.Jaws 2wasn’t bad, butJaws 3andJaws: The Revengeare ridiculed as two of the worst horror movies ever made. Yeah, they’re silly, fromJaws 3’s bad 3-D effects toJaws: The Revengebecoming a slasher with a killer fish, but there is one thing thatJaws 3does well.After two movies that refused to leave Amity, the third movie decided to be bigger and bolder by changing the setting. Taking place at SeaWorld Orlando, the chaotic plot turnsJaws 3into aJurassic Park-type story that is full of schlocky fun.
‘Jaws 3’ Was a Critical and Box Office Failure
Sequels seldom live up to the original, but the falloff fromJawstoJaws 3is astonishing. The original is one of the most famous films in history, butJaws 3(also known asJaws 3-D) was an absolute disaster. Today, it only hasan embarrassing 11% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. OnAt the Movies,Gene SiskelandRoger EbertevisceratedJaws 3, with Ebert calling it boring, ridiculous, and phony. Siskel summed up his disappointment with, “Boy, this one really let me down.” It let down a lot of people, though most chose not to even see it, asthe movie made a mere $45 million domestically.
Much of the criticism ofJaws 3is aimed at the 3-D effects and rightfully so.After dying out in the 1950s, 3-D took off again in the ‘80swith movies likeFriday the 13th Part 3. It didn’t work for Jason Voorhees, and it didn’t work for the great white shark either. We get cartoonish 3-D effects of dismembered limbs and the blown-apart jaws of the shark (get it?!), but the worst sin of all is when the monster is swimming towards an all-glass underwater room, but it doesn’t move at all! It’s laughably bad, butif you’re able to get past the 3-D mess,Jaws 3is actually a pretty fun movie because it attempts to do something different.
Dennis Quaid Gave His All as Mike Brody
WhatJaws 3had going for it was that it was written byCarl Gottlieb, the same man who wroteJawsandJaws 2. Not only that, but it was co-written by legendary horror writerRichard Matheson. Thank God, because after starring in the first twoJawsfilms,Roy Scheideris nowhere to be found here as Martin Brody.Lorraine Gary,who was part of every other Jaws movie as Ellen Brody, wasn’t around either, but that ended up being for the best. How often can you keep going back to Martin Brody and his having to overcome his fear of the water?
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It’s time to go back in the water.
Jaws 3was refreshing in that it stayed in the family, but aimed the lens at someone new… sort of. Michael Brody had been inJawsandJaws 2as a kid, but this time he’s all grown up,and played by a different actor, none other thanDennis Quaid! Mike is the exact opposite of his father in important ways.Rather than being afraid of the ocean, he embraces it to the point that he moves to Orlando and becomes the chief engineer at SeaWorld. When another killer great white shark attacks, instead of hesitating, he jumps right into the action to help save the day.
The SeaWorld Setting Was an Exciting Change for ‘Jaws 3’
If Michael Brody were still in Amity, this characterization couldn’t have been accomplished, but by moving him half a country away and making his career in the water, we get to see how the horrors of the past shaped him. He now faces them straight on. Andby putting the action in SeaWorld,Jaws 3forces the audience to face our fears straight on,too. Back in the ’80s, SeaWorld was huge (for better or worse), and millions of families visited their many parks. That made this setting one we could all relate to at the time. It put us in the action, rather than making it an isolated, fictional place like Amity Island. Now, we could be the victim, just going about our lives, having a happy vacation with our families, only for the biggest shark imaginable to show up and start smashing through everything.
Jaws 3has tourists watching skiers, then seeing the dorsal fin of the shark cutting through the water like a knife, as cheers quickly turn to screams.One claustrophobic scene shows adults and children in an underwater tunnel, only for the shark to break the glass. As the water rushes in, we’re left to wonder not only if this movie will be brave enough to kill little kids again, but what we’d do if we were in a similar situation. On top of that,Louis Gossett Jr. as park manager Calvin Bouchard is a certified badass.
For a while, with a monster run amok in a park,Jaws 3turns intoJurassic Park. No, it’s not as good as that Steven Spielberg classic or it’s immediate sequel,but it aims to be fun and pull us in, making our own fears more immediate. The 3-D effects were meant to scare us and tear down the fourth wall, and while its failures made that impossible, the gimmick was never necessary. Have a killer shark invade our vacation and rip our sense of safety away from us, and the fear is already there.
