Spielberg at the top of his game

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2003)

My Rating: **** out of ****.
Steven Spielberg is one of the best American directors working today. He has made many films that have been hailed as classics. Yet before the Dinosaurs, Holocaust, Peter Pan, UFO's, and Indy there was the Shark. Jaws represents one of the masterpieces on Spielbergs resume. It is also probably the "Quintessential Spielberg Film."
Jaws was very popular when released, it was the gighest grossing film of 1975. It spawned three sequels, which were all inferior. In fact, no film about Sharks or any killer fish has been able to come close to the level of Jaws.
The genius in Jaws is its ability to build suspense. The Shark is never really shown till near the end of the film. When ever the Shark is approaching its victims, we get the Sharks point of view, instead of seeing the Shark. These POV shots combined with John Williams very effective score, make the scenes when the Shark is about to devour his victims much more effective.
Evry actor does a nice job with their performances. Roy Scheider brings Martin to life. Martin is not a showy character but Scheider is able to make us like him. Richard Dreyfuss exhibits energy in his performance as Matt Hooper. Robert Shaw is very effective as Quint, that Indiannapolis speech is still very chilling to me. Lorraine Gary and Murray Hamilton also give solid support.
People always talk about how fake the Shark looks. I think its passable but today it would definitely be done by CGI. However, the Shark is not seen that much in the film so its not that big of a deal.
I would like to say Jaws is Spielbergs best film, Schindlers List closely follows. But I would like to see Close Encouners and the Indiana Jones films again. I did not like Close Encounters the first time, and I like the Indiana Jones films but they never stood out to me. If these films dont surpass Jaws, then it is definitely Spielberg's best film.