Am I right to assume that at the end of Jaws while Brody and Hooper are kicking their way towards shore, Brody made a comment about how he use to hate the water but can't imagine why?
Was this dialogue meant to insinuate that Brody was no longer afraid of the water and his encounter with the shark helped him overcome his Aquaphobia?
If so, then I must add heavy criticism towrds Jaws 2 for de-evolving Brody's character like that because he was clearly still an Aquaphobe in Jaws 2.
I can clearly understand the Shark Paranoia that he had in Jaws 2 but the film makers should have left Brody's reformed Aquaphobic mentality intact.
The best thing about sequels are charcter development and evolution ala Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back or Terminator 2 but Jaws 2 did the Brody character a terrible disservice by glossing over and contradicting his character's triumph over his fear of water.
Another thing that bothered me about Jaws 2 was the editing and how it made the character of Larry Vaughn look. He was totally an ass in that sequel.
In the first Jaws movie, I found that scene with Larry full of guilt and shame "My kids were on that beach too" a powerful scene and a turning point for Larry's character.
Technically, this turning point of Larry's character did carry over into J2 because Larry did defend Brody before the town council and called him a "good man" and was the only member that voted against firing him.
Why were those scenes deleted ?
I hope that someday, Universal will release an extended director's version of Jaws 2 with those Town Council scenes restored as well as the underwater helicopter scene and all references to Brody's Aquaphobia removed.
