Less is More

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2012)

It's an intense movie, a powerful movie, a very entertaining film, and a very good one. "Jaws" works because it packs a strong punch, deftly directed by a young Spielberg, a man who made some interesting choices to make the film, and the end result couldn't be more satisfying.
The film tells the story of a monster white shark that terrorizes a New England beach resort. The nightmare escalates as the number of victims increase, and a hunting party runs into a series of problems. This leads to more fatal results. Eventually our trio of heroes gets a chance to fight the shark, which proves to more challenging than expected.
Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw are three very different men and actors; yet in this film their work is remarkable in both their individual scenes and as a group. It is their group work that stands out because they are almost in every scene in the second half of the movie. They are excellent in their quiet moments as we learn more about each character's background, and also while combining their expertise to kill the beast.
Spielberg filmed almost all of the water scenes in the open ocean, making it difficult for the entire crew, but the film looks and feels real. Had technology been more sophisticated, the film would be perfect in its technical aspects, but it might be those challenges that drove Spielberg to become more creative while planning his shots, telling the story. What amazes me is how little we see the shark. I wonder what it'd be like if the movie was made now. It'd still have his mark, and his ability to direct has remained constant, always trying to give us quality in a variety of genres.
Many people were scared enough to stop swimming after seeing "Jaws". It worked because it is direct, about a real creature, and not marred by the overuse of technology. Proof of its quality is that since it came out, there have been few stories that even came close to what "Jaws" achieved. It's a classic.