Jaws III: Monster

After a visit to my local Cex store I was able to pick up Jaws 3 and 4 for a bargain £1.50 each. The first Jaws film has long been a favorite of mine while I consider Jaws 2 to be a rather underrated sequel. Parts 3 and 4 however I haven't revisited to often as their barley screened here in the UK. I knew part 3 was set within a theme park but had no idea that the Brody family from the first two films were involved. I was also surprised to see Dennis Quaid starring in Jaws 3

Given my lack of knowledge to Jaws 3 I didn't take a look at the changes Last Survivor made but knew the edit would include a new monster and remove some dated 3D effects. After seeing the edit it was hard to see just what else he had done to this film. This is the biggest complement I can give to the editor as the commentary goes into great detail the various changes made I just presumed this to be how the film was originally released.

The added Squid monster fits in perfectly though maybe a bit of back story to the monster would have made for a stronger sub-plot. However seeing the footage on the deleted scenes I think the right de-session was made as it's clear that both films have some years between them. The film it self is a enjoyable B movie flick, a little more family friendly than it's predecessors but it's well acted and the characters are likable.

The bonus feature includes a great documentary with narration by Last Survivor in which we see some interesting ideas / stories regarding Jaws 3. Last Survivor also explains why he wanted to edit the film which is very insightful and I’d recommend to anyone who is just starting out or thinking about becoming a fan editor. The Ghost Shark short film is another welcome inclusion, as with Jaws 3 I haven't seen Jaws 4 in over 20 years but I’m well aware of what people's opinion on the film is. Last Survivor is able to salvage something from the film and turn it in to something watch-able and it looks great in black and white. As with the main feature another entertaining commentary is well worth checking out.

Now that I have Jaws 3 and 4 will I be watching these films in the future? Simple answer to that is NO. why would I when I can just re-watch Jaws 3: Monster. The only criticism against the edit is that maybe you don't get the shear size of the shark given that footage was removed.

So do what I did and get a big bowl of popcorn and enjoy some monster one on one action :)

Summer time is here, and if you're craving beaches and theme parks, it's a perfect time to live vicariously...through Jaws 3: Monster! My gold-standard is: does this replace or at least equal the original film? Well, since the original is a pretty schlocky threquel that seemed to be made with no thought to what it would look like NOT in 3-D...yes! This is definitely a better way to watch the film.

I agree with much of what Quickcut said in the first review for this:
Pluses- The trims to the story make it move a lot quicker. I can see where the original would've felt glacial. The 3-D effects would've looked horrible on video, so the replacement footage is very welcome. The ending of the film is famously cheesy, too, so the alternate ending here is refreshing. And I appreciated all the song additions, which fit the film so well that they're not even noticeable edits if you're not paying attention.

Minuses- As Quickcut said, the end goal of the film is a bit murky. LS said he wanted to lean into the B-movie quality of it, but honestly with films out there like Sharknado or Snakes On A Plane, it just feels like this doesn't go nearly far enough. Dennis Quad, Bess Armstrong, and Lea Thompson are all pretty good in this, and they're playing it straight. The story has a lot of ridiculous logic, often just using the monster(s) to move the plot, regardless of how real sea creatures operate. But the humans mostly make understandable decisions and have straightforward lines, so it doesn't have the delicious cheese that makes for a great bad movie like Army of Darkness or Killer Klowns From Outer Space. I also would've liked more footage and more buildup of the other Monster to bolster the film. There are also a lot of camera shots that were obviously intended for 3-D that are really impossible to remove from the film.

Extras- There are a plethora of extras included here, I think more than for any other fanedit I've seen! There are deleted/alternate scenes which show some interesting ideas that were dropped, some of which worked well (like the alternate opening 2) but mostly were happily abandoned for a better final edit.

There's a "Ghost Shark" short film that's essentially a micro fanedit of Jaws IV. It’s a bit odd because you’re steadily introduced to all these characters, and their goals, then we don’t really see any of them pay off. Instead, we see a stranger get eaten, then a new character show up and get attacked.The end. Is it any better than the actual Jaws IV? I don’t know, I heard that was horrible and the plot of it (and this one) is patently ridiculous, so I’ve got no urge to compare. The acting was surprisingly good in this, though!

There’s also a documentary that goes into depth on the making of the original film, its release and legacy, and the process of making the fanedit. This all could be seen as taking itself a bit too seriously, but it's very well done so I enjoyed it quite a bit. It gave me a new appreciation for the passion and effort which went into creating this fanedit.

I feel like the way to watch Jaws 3 would've been at a drive-in with 3-D glasses in 1983. Or at a retro 3-D theater now. Outside of that situation, the faneditor can only make it so good. I'm not nearly as passionate or forgiving of the film as he, but this fanedit is still enjoyable enough to watch once.

April 17, 2012

This rocked the house! Super awesome fanedit dude!

I really enjoyed this. I’m not qualified to comment on the technical side other than to say it was really well edited, all the changes to the direction of the film and the audio edits were transparent and never drew attention to themselves. I’ve seen more monster movies than I can count and the new footage was integrated into the film as well as most of those films, it didn’t distract from the story even though I was aware none of it was there in the original verison and, overall, I’d say the new shark and other fx fit a lot better than the old ones. I liked the new direction the film took, I found it a lot of fun. I’m not an editor but, purely as a viewer, it all worked really well for me as a fun monster b movie. The whole thing was a great package, a lot of care obviously went into creating all the extras. And for a non editor like me it’s really interesting to get to see what you guys do behind the scenes. Great work and, for me, well worth the wait.

Really enjoyable movie. It's been years since seeing the original and I'd forgotten the majority of it. I definitely don't remember it being this fun. My overall impression of the original was that it was mind-numbingly boring, actually. There are still sections here which aren't that interesting, thanks to the original script, but these are usually helped along by a fun turn from Dennis Quaid. It's easier to scoot by those bits when the film's been tightened up this much, too.

I really enjoyed the additions from other films to pep this one up. They worked really well, didn't stand out too much (apart from maybe a couple of obvious CGI shots which were nevertheless graded and colour-corrected well enough to not jar with original footage) and added a lot of fun stuff. The only thing that I wasn't keen on was the radio DJ providing plot exposition. I assumed (even before watching the brilliant documentary on disc 2) that this was the fan editor right away. It really sticks out in the final scenes, too. In theory, it's a fantastic idea, but the performance doesn't work for me. The key sticking point is the British accent. It doesn't work given the setting and the inherent Americanness of the film. Other than that, the additions are amazing. Frankly, I didn't realise the extent of some of the editing until I saw the documentary, which is a testament to how well it's done.

The editor has taken a forgettable, dated chore of a sequel and turned it into a fun movie. I'll be recommending this one to friends. The extras are fantastic as well. Great touch.