The Great Bite

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2012)

Just a quick note on Steven Spielberg's Masterpiece Jaws: Everything works. Yes, the whole background story on the movie came out years ago, their mechanical shark kept sinking, etc, but as for the final product: (let me repeat) everything worked. Score, acting, dialogue, suspense, realism, plot development, urgency, you name it. I have read the book, and of course there were changes – anyone yet comment on the missing love affair between Brody's wife and Hooper? – but, all novels change from page to screen. What Spielberg did was amazing. He didn't create a horror movie. Nor a shark movie. It was a movie concerning a small town 100% reliant on tourism and if anything goes against that, whether economy, weather, bad publicity or in this case, shark attacks, the town could go under. I never labeled this movie as a horror or monster movie. To me, it was an adventure and a suspense movie reliant on one man, an outsider, to battle something that will destroy both the local economy but also the islanders themselves. You get rich history and depth from the Mayor, Ellen Brody, Hooper, (especially) Quint and of course, Chief Brody. Heck, the whole town's inhabitants are rich in character. Honestly, skip the sequels. As a kid, I loved Jaws 2, but as an adult, watching all 4 (so far) films, only the original Jaws was worth watching.