The first modern blockbuster

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2009)

Jaws, the first film to be truly called a blockbuster, with a massive box office return and becoming a cultural phenomenon. It is also one of the first high concept film, when the plot can be summarised in a sentence: a great white shark terrorises a small coastal town.
In the town of Amity Island a great white shark starts to end people, including a teenage girl and a young boy, during the run up to busy summer season. The mother of the boy offers a bounty of $3,000 for anyone who captures and kills the shark. The chief of police, Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), wants to prevent people from going into the water, but the major Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) fears that any move would ruin the town's economy and tourism industry. Vaughn ignores the dangers until it was too late. With the help of marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw), Brody goes off to hunt for the shark.
Jaws is told in two parts. The first is about the investigation, the local reaction and the rivalry between Brody and Vaughn. The second forces on the hunt for the shark. The plot is basic. What Steven Spielberg did was making the characters believable and let them develop. The characters form friendships and rivalry and you even question some of their actions (in a good way). John Williams gives the film a excellent score and they is a fine editing job (for the most part). Steven Spielberg films some fine action sequences and shows he is the master of his craft.
Jaws is far from perfect and is not Spielberg's best film. It could have been about 10 to 15 minutes shorter. But it is a pretty entertaining film.
There was no need for 3 sequels!