Review of Jaws (1975) by Amanda C — 14 Jan 2018

Set in the 1970's, Jaws tells the story of a small east-coast town whose world turns upside down as its people continue to be picked off one by one. The story follows the town's chief as he investigates the source of the issue.

Through watching the film, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it quite a bit more than I anticipated. Jaws didn't fail to let me down in terms of suspense and surprise, and that was thanks to the editing.

I feel that this was especially achieved in the pacing of the editing. Editor Verna Fields does a great job at drawing out each shot to build tension and to create and further the suspense. This is evidenced in a particular scene that takes place at the beach.

The chief of police has just discovered that a great white shark has caused the initial death on the beach. In his attempt to shut down the beach, the town's mayor, who insists on keeping the beach open regardless, intercepts him.

In the scene, the chief is on edge as he keeps watch of the beach's attendees. The scene cuts between different drawn out shots of those attendees as we wait in impatience for the potential impending threat.

I found myself constantly on edge as I watched through these moments. The payoff of the scene being executed the way that it was were those great moments of surprise when the shark would finally surface and take on its next prey.

I watched the film with some friends of mine, and we would literally jump out of our seats every time this would happen. One thing that I particularly enjoyed was that in the scenes that the shark made an appearance in, even though you knew the shark was coming, you were still surprised when it materialized.