Review of Jaws (1975) by Stephen%20 O — 29 May 2017

The film Jaws created by effects genius Steven Spielberg, and was based off of the book written by Peter Benchley, and took the film world by storm in 1975. The movie was one of the firsts of its kind because it basically became the first summer blockbuster setting a precedent on what one looked like. In my opinion Jaws is a nearly flawless film that takes the viewer on an interesting journey starting with a couple of attacks on people, to a full fledged manhunt to take down the shark. There are many things that make this film so great; the way that Spielberg does not show the shark for the first half of the film, the amazing portrayals of the three main characters that go on the shark hunt, and finally the story of the film is perfect and flows beautiful.

There is so much suspense and tension built up over the course of the first half of the film with the viewer in the point of the shark. By doing this it creates the actual horror of the shark attacking people without actually showing the full shark, and when they show the shark in pursuit of its victims all that is seen is his dorsal fin. This technique further adds to the suspense of an attack, and then they finally build all of this up to the full reveal of the shark whilst the men are hunting it. Next the portrayal of the three main characters is perfect, and they each add a key element to the film that is essentially irreplaceable. The first character we meet is Roy Scheider's "Matt Brody" the local police chief who works on the island and is afraid of water. That little detail is completely ironic because in a shark hunt he is going to need to be on a boat in the water, and that just adds further to his character development. The next character that is introduced is actually Robert Shaw's "Quint", but we don't completely get his story until the actual shark hunt because he is only in the one scene to announce he'll kill the shark. Therefore the next character made known is Richard Dreyfuss "Matt Hooper" who is a rich-kid marine biologist who is there to study the shark and help bring it down. He provides a perfect foil to "Quint" as they butt heads on the boat(and the set), making their character dynamics an interesting one to follow. After "Hooper" is introduced the audience gets to meet the real "Quint" as they begin their journey to kill the shark. This is when we see "Quint" in his element being the hard nosed, ex-military man who has the "his way or the highway mentality", and is arguably the best character in this film. Seeing the three characters together on the boat and the way they interact with one another is phenomenal they add depth to the film.