Jaws (1975)
1975
PG
124 Minutes
An insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island, The police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the bloodthirsty beast.
User Review
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Jaws is the grandfather of the shark sub-genre. Some might say, it was one of the first major blockbusters to ever be released. The film that made audiences think twice about swimming in the sea. Being responsible for influencing many current directors working today. Is it worthy of the classic status? Absolutely. Ohhh yes ladies and gentlemen, Jaws is yet another classic in Spielberg's filmography that has every right to be called timeless. He didn't just create a horror film, he reinvigorated the genre! It's not what you see on screen that terrifies audiences, it's what you don't see. Casual holiday goers getting dragged into the hellish depths of the ocean as our infamous Great White shark rips them to shreds. The effectiveness of this, is that you don't see the shark in all its glory until the second half. Spielberg used the shark's point of view as a camera technique in order to create the scares, and it worked tremendously. Incredibly genius idea back in 1975. Accompanied by John Williams' famous "Da Dun...Da Dunnn...Dun Dun Dun Dun" (best way I can describe it) score, it was destined to be remembered for a long long time. What I also loved was the fact that it wasn't just a straight up "shark is in the water, run away!" type of film. There's a conflict of interest on Amity Island regarding tourism and wanting to keep the beaches open for income. Then the second half is where our chief of police and squad go shark hunting. So it is a varied film and I like how the narrative changes, it felt natural. Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss were great and pulled off some charismatic likeable performances. My one and only criticism, was that the pacing was inconsistent during the second half. The terror lowers and focusses on character development which did slow the film down for me. Having said that, Jaws is a classic and is worthy of all the praise that it gets. The first half is masterfully crafted and cements sharks as being Hollywood's greatest movie monster.0 member like this review.
