Jaws (1975) review

(10/10)

Steven Spielberg definitely has a knack for horror as well as drama. In fact, he came up with the acknowledged best horror film of all-time.

PLOT:It's summer on Amity Island and everyone's getting ready to have beach parties by the water. That is, until talk of a huge shark killing people starts buzzing around. Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) starts getting nervous and protective about the citizens and tourists of Amity Island, so he calls up oceanologist, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), to help gather information and convince the mayor to close the beaches and send someone out to kill the shark. The mayor says no, until another fatal attack occurs. The mayor succumbs and hires expert shark-hunter, Captain Quint (Robert Shaw), who goes for a high price. Now the chief, oceanologist, and Quint must go out on the ocean and catch the beast. It's a good plot idea executed brilliantly.



ACTING:The performances in here are all great and memorable. The three main characters definitely clicked somehow and stole the show. The shiners, including the three main characters, were Roy Sheider as Chief Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as Quint, Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn, Susan Backlinie as Chrissie Watkins, and Lee Fierro as Mrs. Kintner. Each played a truly memorable part.

SCORE:The score is brilliantly done by the great John Willams. The score is not only memorable, but iconic, as everyone remembers the Jaws theme.

EFFECTS:The effects of the blood, remains, and the shark itself are still today haunting and as scary as they were. They also looked more real than any blood effects you might find today. If you didn't know, they used a mix of stock footage and a mechanical shark to make "Jaws" real. The result (though in behind-the-scens interviews, they say the shark was malfunctioning) was a violent, scary, and harrowing trip into the water and back out.

CAMERAWORK:The camerawork in here was actually pretty good. Spielberg caught some amazingly creepy and artsy shots. I didn't think Spielberg was that much of a camera expert.



OTHER CONTENT:This film is iconic to everyone who has seen it. No one can forget such a memorable film. If you ask someone, "What's the movie with the shark?", they'll most likely say "Jaws". Everything is memorable in here, from lines, to characters, to certain scenes, and to even the music! More importantly, today this is still extremely scary and can make more than one person scared to get in the water, and can fill just about anyone with undeniable terror. Even more importantly than that, it's so scary because it's real. This monster isn't a regular Frankenstein or zombie, it's a real-life, natural animal. The same goes for the characters. Everything in here could very well be true. That's what makes it so good. Spielberg's sense of perfection came out in a different form, but it was definitely there.

OVERALL,an epic horror film with a brilliantly executed plot, great acting, iconic score, haunting effects, good camerawork, extreme terror, real events, and everything about this film becoming memorable.