The Definitive Shark Movie

Rating: 10/10 (15 September 2015)

After Steven Spielberg directing his TV movie "Duel," and his first theatrical movie "The Sugarland Express" he would go on to direct a movie about a man-eating shark that attacks people. The movie is about a great white shark, that has been causing all the issue for attacking innocent people on Amity Island as our three main characters set out by sea to go find the shark, and kill it so no one would have anymore shark problems whatsoever. "Jaws" is a cinematic masterpiece of filmmaking, and I thought Spielberg is able to bring such tension of suspense and excitement as you are going along with the ride. The production of this movie had numerous problems to get the shark to work, but Spielberg made such a wise choice to not show the shark as learned from one his idols Alfred Hitchcock as he makes this movie very suspenseful as he did with "Duel" for not showing the truck driver. He only shows the shark toward the end of the movie, which it makes a very good build up to show the shark. Also, the movie works well with the human characters as they don't come out as cardboard cutouts, but make them as they act like real people. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss are excellent together in this movie, and they make a great chemistry. I have never read the book, but I'm sure that movie is different than what the book represents. Peter Benchley wrote the book, as well as co-writing the screenplay with Carl Gottlieb and the movie does have a very well written script. The shark itself is very well done for its mixture for using practical effects, and real-life shark footage by Ron and Valerie Taylor; this is before CG as they had to film a real shark so the filmmakers won't have to keep going practical with the shark. As for John Williams, his music is completely unforgettable and really loved the theme that he created for this movie; its a good thing that he won an Oscar for his music of the movie, and he really deserves that kind of recognition. The movie does go at a very good pace, and I thought the climax at the end between Brody and the shark is very well done. The opening scene, in my opinion, is really Spielberg's own shower scene from "Psycho" as it is shocking to see this poor woman get killed by our main antagonist. I'm not going into much detail about this movie because everyone has seen "Jaws," and it will always continue to be a classic movie as well as one of Spielberg's best films. "Jaws" will always be the definitive shark movie, and nothing can compare to this masterpiece. I give it a 10 out of 10.