Jaws 2 [4K Ultra HD] [1978] [2023] [Region Free]

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There’s nothing new here, what’s included are the same series of supplements found on the previously-released Blu-ray. It can’t be remade, but that didn’t stop Universal from trying to squeeze more dollars out of wallets with a stretch of less successful sequels.

The “French” Joke – Essentially this tells of how the title had to be changed in France to accommodate the translation. Jaws was a perfect storm, the inability of ‘Bruce’ the shark to work in the water forcing an invention of filming that proved to be outstanding; casting, story, score and director – stunning.The Making of Jaws 2– This 40 minute documentary entitled (aptly enough), The Making of Jaws 2 has some interviews with the cast and crew, this tells of the headaches it took to get the movie made as well as following a movie like Jaws. There are English SDH, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles available. Jaws 2 isn’t the greatest movie ever and can be considered an unnecessary sequel to a classic, but it’s still a damned fun flick. From the Set is a vintage featurette produced in 1975; it was included on the Blu-ray too, as were the Deleted Scenes and Outtakes and the theatrical trailer, all carried over from the original DVD release.

Add in a subtle HDR pass, which now provides that little touch of sparkle – all the sun light glinting off the water now seems to leap off the screen in a way it didn’t previously – and shade (the shadows in the killer whale bite now show much more of the make-up work), and this release looks like it has a new lease of life breathed into it from a colour perspective. The same is true of the details in the ocean (the waves look sharper, the light sparkles more pronounced) and in the contours of our actors faces and clothes (lines are a little finer in the clothing patterns of Gary’s shirt as she consoles her husband for example). Stephen Spielberg had helped the original and wanted nothing to do with another installment, he felt that he had made the “defacto” movie and that it wasn’t to be messed with. Immediately obvious when comparing this to the previous release is the much healthier and richer colour grading.The discovery of Chrissie’s body stands out for me; Brody, aghast as the sceptic, turns to look at the ocean – bang, right there, Spielberg subconsciously implants death with the sea; already our heckles are up… there’s something deadly in the water. They mention in the documentary that Planet of the Apes was really the forerunner of the “sequel” thing. Jaws 2 feasts on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with a new two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital release from Universal.

Flipping between discs, I listened through a variety of key sequences and didn’t notice any differences. But while we get to spend more time with the kids here that ultimately pays off in the third act, it still feels like a major slowing down of the film's frantic pace and it’s coupled with a lack of anything of any real interest for Scheider’s Chief of Police to do other than repeat all the same character and story beats from the first film (although how much of this is down to the actor’s infamous hatred of having to be involved and his very public falling out with the director on set remains to be seen…). Sure, there’s nothing to “new” about a great white shark eating people off the coast of a New England island community, but dang did the filmmakers come up with some clever ways for this toothy killer to enjoy a snack. The film, directed by Jeannot Szwarc and released in 1978, was the follow up to Steven Spielberg's 1975 box office smash JAWS and was the most successful sequel ever until the release of Rocky IIin 1979.Combining in a perfect storm, a young, on form, enthusiastic director, a failing prop forcing invention, a tight script, excellent performances and that score and you have a film that once seen is never forgotten. John Williams: The Music of Jaws 2– John Williams, who composed the score for the movie, is an absolute marvel when it comes to music and I really liked watching this featurette on him, very interesting. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts.

The art cards and double-sided poster are decent enough and the booklet – which is in English and comes with an Italian translation separate – is a nice touch, although it's not particularly in depth.We reviewed the Region free UK Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Jaws on a Panasonic 65DX902B Ultra HD 4K TV with a Panasonic DP-UB450 Dolby Vision HDR10+ 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player. The PG rating was more in tune so “the masses” could see this whereas the original might have been a bit more limited.