Jaws

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2009)

This movie was pretty well made. The Directing was good, as was the filming for the most part. The score was perfect for the movie. So kudos to Spielberg and John Williams. This is probably John Williams greatest soundtrack, (probably not Spielberg's greatest movie though). Those shots at the very end where The Shark is sinking the ship were especially good. The acting was also good. Richard Dreyfuss especially. It's not a film I would particularly want to watch again though.
One viewing is enough to terrify one of the water, which does make Jaws serve its purpose. This might sound a bit nit picky, and I know this movie took place on the beach, though a lot of the scenes were just too bright. There was a glare in most of the beach scenes. The lighting was perfect in the scene they were trying to catch the shark with bait though. But that's not why I gave it a 6. The concept of Jaws has never really interested me; a giant shark that terrorizes swimmers.
I found a couple of the scenes in Jaws to be overdone. Now I realize, these scenes were supposed to shock the viewer and add to the horror, though the movie would have been just as scary without them. I am not referring to the scene with the head popping out of the canoe, or whatever, that was well-done. The scenes I am referring to are the opening scenes; the first attack the shark makes, on the one girl swimming alone in the ocean. I thought it was one of the weakest scenes in the movie. It just went on for too long. To me, the scene could of been much better if the girl disappeared under the water, once the shark arrived. Instead we have to view her flailing and screaming for about 20 seconds. The producers did make this scene more frightening by not showing the shark in this particular scene.
Another one was the scene towards the end when the shark swam onto the ship and tore that fishermen to shreds. I mean, come on was it really necessary to show the shark biting him that many times?, with streams of blood spewing out of him? I think a little editing would have been very good for Jaws, as it is a PG movie. How it was rated that, is beyond me. PG does suggest "parental guidance", though only moderately. I think the parental guidance that would surround the viewing of Jaws, for children, should be much more than moderate.
I also like for a horror movie to hide some of the violence, a lot of times it makes the movie more suspenseful. Jaws actually does do this in some scenes. For example, between all of the attacks, the shark is only shown a few times in the movie. So when the shark actually does appear, its all the more terrifying. These were the only scenes that bothered me though, everything else was well-done. I agree that Movies like this are classics (despite my six)and worth watching during some point of a persons life. Probably after they left all their beach years behind, as I saw this movie months ago, and have not swam in the ocean since. I was already scared enough of the ocean as it was, but Jaws just brought it too a whole new level. (I have to give it some credit for this)