Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)

This is probably the one movie that I think everyone likes, but I can see why because it’s really hard not to like. This film, in my opinion, is plain perfect. I do think that without this film, the entire film industry would be drastically different than what it is today. I was actually surprised at how nostalgic it turned out for me after watching it tonight for the first time since I was a little kid, and I really only think that I had only seen it once before. This is the one movie that has terrified people of going in the ocean for decades, and it still does today as well, at least for me. But I’ve always been pretty afraid to go into the ocean; this movie is one of those reasons. I think I actually liked this movie more because I’ve always been pretty interested in sharks, they’ve been my favorite animal that’s not extinct for a long time now, since I was a kid, seeing this just helped me remember of why I love sharks so much. You can definitely enjoy this movie not liking sharks that much, I actually think it’s better to see this if you’re afraid of sharks like I am, because it just makes the movie even more special.

Much like Jurassic Park or John Carpenter’s The Thing, the effects in Jaws is way ahead of it’s time. Jaws even outdates the two I mentioned, without Jaws I think those two wouldn’t have even had the amazing effects that I knew they had. One of the best things about Jaws though, is the suspense it creates. This is by far one of the most, if not the most, suspenseful movie that I’ve ever seen. One scene that’s a great example of this is the scene with those two guys at the docks trying to lure the shark in, just everything in that scene fits so perfectly. The last 15 or 20 minutes is another great example, surprisingly though, it didn’t seem to get slow at the ending, I mean if someone tells you what happens it may sound slow, but when you actually see it play out it’s just amazing. Steven Spielberg is such an amazing director. My favorite scene though is when we first get to see the shark though, it just gives you a quick glimpse of his head underneath the water, it just looked so real, which also just happened to be another really suspenseful scene in the movie.

Now I considered Steven Spielberg to be the greatest director of all-time for the longest time, but I have noticed that has been flip-flopping around for about a year now. But in these past few weeks, I’m pretty sure that I ultimately think that he is the greatest director of all-time, with such movies like this, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, and Saving Private Ryan. He also seems to pick the perfect casts for his movie; I mean I honestly believed that Roy Scheider was completely terrified of the ocean, and who knows maybe he was. I would have loved to been there when they were filming this though, I can just imagine the scenes on the boat for the ending would have been so much fun to be apart of. Scheider and Dreyfuss had amazing chemistry together though; they seemed like the perfect team for the movie, which just shows another thing about how amazing Spielberg is with picking his casts for his movies.

I know some of you may get tired of hearing that this movie is probably going to make it into my top 10 with a re-watch, but personally how many movies of those actually end up in my top 10? But just get ready to hear it again, but unlike the rest, this really is probably going to make it into my top 10, I’m going to find a spot for it either later tonight or sometime tomorrow, but I guarantee you that it’s going to find a spot somewhere in it. This movie is a true cinematic masterpiece, without this movie ever being made, there would be a huge gap missing in the film industry. This is one of the very rare movies that I think is just perfect for everyone, I find it really, really hard to not like this movie. I don’t even think I can even if I really tried, but that’s just my opinion on it. I would say you need to go out and see this movie, but more than likely you’ve probably already seen it, to be a true movie fan IMO, this is a must see.