Just try and keep your eyes open

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2007)

Steven Spielberg has turned Peter Benchley's frightening best seller into a terrifying movie which understandably kept hoards of people out of the ocean in much the same way that "Psycho" kept hoards out of their showers.
The screenplay adaptation, by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, is very well balanced and the story is expertly handled by Spielberg as he slowly introduces us to the unsuspecting resort town of Amity, which is about to be torn apart by the most horrible of unseen terrors. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss all give strong performances, with Scheider as the new chief of police who never had a menace quite like this to deal with in New York, Shaw, who is impressive as cynical, wily old Mr. Quinn the shark hunter, and Dreyfuss, who gives a fine performance as hot shot oceanographer Matt Hooper.
The special effects are convincing enough, at least enough to cause one's heart to race, and John William's much borrowed, re-used and copied music score is of course very effective.
A wonderful, nerve-racking piece of entertainment from Spielberg which builds up from its tense beginning to a real heart-stopping climax, guaranteed to give you sweaty palms and leave your mouth dry, if you can keep your eyes open long enough.
Sunday, January 30, 1994 - T.V.