A scary thriller that builds suspense

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2013)

The original summer blockbuster, "Jaws" is a great example to use to display Steven Spielberg's ("Raiders of the Lost Ark", "E.T") knack for film making and directing. "Jaws" is a one of a kind movie because the formula that it used to make it so scary and suspenseful has been attempted many other times on countless projects and usually failed.
After a young girl is killed while swimming, Sheriff Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) teams up with shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and grizzly fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt down the killer beast before it can do more damage. All three actors deliver great performances, making their characters very memorable and creating a bond between them and the audience.
Underneath the suspense and fear that the shark causes, there is a subtle but good message dealing with ethics. While Sheriff Brody wants to close the beach for fear of the lives of those in the water, Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) wants to keep the beaches open as it is the primary source of money to come into the community. A good thing that comes with this is that it could have easily made Mayor Vaughn out into looking like a horrible, unlikable person, but instead it makes him out to be a leader who made a choice for the greater good of his community that turned out to be the wrong move.
The best part about the film that no other film, including the three "Jaws" sequels, could pull off is the suspense. Originally, the shark was going to be seen more, but due to technical difficulties with it, the usage of the shark had to be dialed back. Instead, we just get glimpses of the shark when it attacks. The audience does not get to see the shark until the very end and instead all we have to work with are the brief glimpses we get of the shark and the description of the shark that is given. With that, the film adds another layer to the horror as the audience is building this horrific image in their mind of what the creature looks like. To keep that suspense, we only truly see the full shark within the last five minutes of the movie.
With superb movie making and a killer soundtrack by John Williams, "Jaws" is a classic and one of the scariest movies ever made. How can I say it is one of the scariest movies ever made? Try going back into the water after watching this film.