A good shark movie worth a watch; excellent shark design; realistic plot; has some flaws

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2020)

100% spoiler free.
98% on RT.
8/10 on IMDB.
87% on Metacritic.
88% of google users liked this movie.
3 Oscar wins (Editing, Original music score, sound mixing); nominated for Best Picture.
This movie was made 45 years ago and I just watched it for the first time. I have known about it for many years and finally decided to watch it since it is regarded as an excellent shark movie.
I LOVE shark movies and I have ever since I watched Deep Blue sea in theaters in 1999 as a kid, which I have re-watched twice.
Anyway, I think this was a good movie, but nowhere as good as Deep Blue Sea (1999). But this film was actually a very solid work and overall well-made. Steven Spielberg (my favorite director) did a great job. The CGI people did an amazing job with the shark - it was so real and it looked absolutely amazing.
The plot was simple and yet effective. The plot was written in a realistic manner, which I appreciated. A realistic shark plot worked.
The cast was fine. Richard Dreyfuss (Hopper) I think had the best performance.
Roy Scheider (Chief Brody) had some decent performances but later only gave very flat scenes, especially at the end. Very flat and mediocre acting at the end.
Robert Shaw (Quint) had a pretty average performance.
The supporting cast did acceptable, although completely forgettable.
Moreover, this movie had more flaws, aside from the acting issues.
The triumphant orchestra music when the protagonists were haunting the shark was extremely inappropriate. The orchestra in general was so bad it knocked down 1 Star from my review. I cannot believe the orchestra music won an Oscar.
Also, there were scenes in the last quarter of the film that did not have dialogue when something would happen and I thought that that was inappropriate and unrealistic. Any normal person would be swearing and verbally reacting to anything that goes wrong and talking to themselves in such a bad situation. Instead there is no dialogue. What is even worst, the acting at the end was totally inappropriate and unbelievable - I mean if you are in the water alone with a 25-foot long 6,000 lb. great white shark, it does not make sense for you to have a fearless face and not say a word? These two things cost the movie two stars. This was completely unrealistic. It is common sense. You would naturally be absolutely HORRIFIED of such a shark and mumble things to yourself, but definitely you would not be completely fearless! The actor Roy Scheider failed and the Steven Spielberg failed too. How can you forget common sense?
Another issue is with the last scene - there was a missed opportunity to create absolute horror for the audience, which a shark is supposed to make anyone feel The fight should have been taken into the water - there is nothing more horrifying than knowing you are in the water with a 25-foot 6,000 lb. great white shark under you. But instead, the character is in a safe spot and to make things worst, with a completely fearless face. I, the viewer, never felt the horror that I should have felt, that the director should have made me feel. This is a failure from the director and the actor. Extremely disappointed.
Conclusion: it is a good movie, but I do not think it deserves such a high reputation. Maybe it was the first shark movie done right, but it is nowhere near as good as Deep Blue Sea (1999). Nevertheless, it is still a good movie that deserves a watch since it was mostly properly made from start to finish, although with some flaws.
7/10