Accidental Innuendo: The original film was titled Les Dents de la mer ("The Teeth of the Sea") in French-speaking markets. So the sequel was, unsurprisingly, titled Les Dents de la mer deuxième partie ("The Teeth of the Sea, second part"). This was often abbreviated in casual speech, however, to Les Dents de la mer deux… which sounds very much like Les Dents de la merde, "The Teeth of the Shit".
Awesome Moments: Brody saving his son and the other teens by tricking the shark into biting a high voltage cable. His one-liner is icing on the cake: "OPEN WIDE!"
Awesome Music: It's John Williams; of course there's gonna be kickass music. Some fans prefer this score to his work on the first one. This the only one of the sequels he came back for.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: While not exactly unwelcome (as some fans see her as one of the more likable teens) the shark just swimming right up at Lucy but then going past her without even trying to eat her can feel somewhat confusing.
Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Interestingly, two different, radically divergent, alternate versions of the well-known helicopter scene in the final act are both seen as being even better than the final versions by some fans.
An extended version of the scene shows the helicopter pilot makes it out of the submerged craft, only for the next shot to be a close-up of the shark’s mouth right before it engulfs him offscreen. Many people feel this was impressively scary and makes the final version lackluster by comparison.
In the second draft of the script, the pilot survives due to an air bubble inside the cockpit and briefly ventures out of it to pull Marge to safety when the shark is attacking her. Given how the script makes that scene sound tense and fast-paced and Marge is such a popular character and has such a sad death, there are fans who wish that scene had stayed in and saved the two characters.
The scene where Brody dangles from the power line is a bit scarier now that it's recognized that great white sharks can jump entirely out of the water. If it hadn't been distracted by the boats, it could've snatched him right out from under that cable.
There's an infamous exchange where Brody starts to say "Do you think that if one shark was killed, that another shark could..." before realizing how absurd he sounds and trailing off, to which Dr. Elkins sarcastically replies "Sharks don't take things personal Mr. Brody!" and the film wisely never brings this up again. Unfortunately, the writers of a later sequel had the brilliant idea to take this concept and play it completely serious.
He's Just Hiding: Marge, for some. Her death is an example of Bloodless Carnage and there is a version of the script where she made it down to the helicopter and an air bubble, avoiding the shark.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Brody ponders whether the shark in this film is on a rampage in response to the one from the first film being killed. His claims are dismissed by the marine biologist at the scene, stating "Sharks don't take things personally" and the whole notion is dropped. Come the third sequel where the shark explicitly does take things personally.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: A common complaint about this film, as it mostly regurgitates the same plot points from the first Jaws with only a few differences to set it apart.
The tagline has spawned various snowclones, like "Just when you thought that it was safe to be dead" for Return of the Living Dead Part II.
"The mayor from Jaws is still the mayor in Jaws 2. It is important to vote in your local elections".
One-Scene Wonder: The water skier who spends a scene oblivious to how the shark is pursuing her and her friend who tries to fight the shark with the flare gun are highly memorable in their one scene.
The Scrappy: JACKIE. The otherwise exciting ending of the movie is marred by her deafening screaming, and you will quickly find yourself rooting for her to be eaten. She lives. For that matter, many viewers think the movie would have been better with less focus on the teen characters.
Sequelitis: While not as great as the first film, Jaws 2 is still critically the most successful of the sequels.
Signature Scene: The town council scene has problems (as noted below under Strawman Has a Point), but it's well-remembered for Brody's impassioned line:
"But I'm telling you, and I'm telling everybody at this table that that's a shark! And I know what a shark looks like because I've seen one up close. And you'd better do something about this one because I don't intend to go through that hell again!"
So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus for the film. Not publicly adored like the original, but not as widely hated as 3 or especially The Revenge. A factor that likely helps is it's the only sequel that Roy Scheider came back for and his performance is enough to help it be considered watchable compared to the future installments.
Special Effects Failure: At one point the shark sideswipes a boat open-mouthed, and its rubber face is noticeably dented by the impact. To be fair, shark skin is cartilage; at this point, the creature was getting some serious damage on it. What's not defensible is that, due to the camera being pointed straight down its gullet, one can clearly see the shark's mechanical innards.
When the town council again wants to ignore evidence of a shark problem, for the same reasons as in the first film, but are completely right in their decision to fire Brody over his extremely reckless actions on the beach—screaming at people, firing his gun—that could have left someone seriously injured or even dead. Brody's lack of remorse for what he did doesn't help his cause much.
Also invoked in a deleted scene on the DVD: after Brody confronts the town council with the photo of the shark and the council goes back to deliberate, all but one person votes to dismiss Brody as the police chief—the mayor himself, who apparently saw the light, and defends Brody during the deliberation.
Marge's death, when she heroically sacrifices her life to save Sean's.
Also Diane's (the woman on the boat) death qualifies. She spends her last moments of life first in horror, being attacked by a gigantic great white, likely realizing that it ate her daughter/friend, then in agony, burning alive before the boat explosion cuts her suffering short.
When the shark arrives during Eddie and Tina's scene, she screams desperately to warn her boyfriend about the predator in the water, and he tries to swim to the boat. He disappears and then reappears next to the boat, begging for help, before the shark drags him under and the water goes red, leaving Tina traumatized,
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Jabootu's review argues that the movie might have been better if it focused on Brody suffering from PTSD over the first film's events (already implied by some of his actions in the movie), and that there either really wasn't a shark, or else its existence was more ambiguous.
Too Cool to Live: Marge, who sacrifices herself to save Sean from the water but gets herself eaten by the shark.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: While his behind-the-scenes tribulations on this film are notorious, Roy Scheider definitely isn't phoning it in. Of particular note is the scene just after he's been fired, where he sadly admits to his wife he has no real idea what he'll do next.
's review argues that the movie might have been better if it focused on Brody suffering from PTSD over the first film's events (already implied by some of his actions in the movie), and that there either really wasn't a shark, or else its existence was more ambiguous.