Jaws Film Review
Jaws Film Review
‘Jaws’ is one of Spielberg’s most easily recognisable movies. It is unique in a way that is rarely seen in cinema. He set a new standard for horror films. In this movie, the small northern town of Amity is ‘haunted’ by a great white shark which kills its first victim in the abandoned night. It is an attack which, when later discovered, causes police chief Brody, against his will, to let the beach stay open for the fourth of July due to the fact that it was the main source of income for the town. Consequentially there is another shark attack on a child on the fourth of July. This causes panic and Brody, out of shame, is forced to force the Mayor to close down the beach and hire Quint to kill the shark.
First a shark expert from National Geographic, called Hooper and then Quint and Brody acquire Quint’s boat and head off for adventure…
This blatantly fails and results in Quint being eaten by the shark. Conclusively it seems only luck (Brody shooting the shark) can defeat this unearthly being.
I like the way tension is built up in this movie; the jaws theme tune is played whenever there is suspicion of a shark attack (e.g. when, at the beach, on July 4th, the boys prank is happening). This has a profound effect on the audience because they suspect the attack but then find out it is just a prank. Suddenly the actual shark is in the shallow ‘pond’ where it is supposed to be safe.
Also I like the way Spielberg has created the movie so that the shark is not shown for a long period of time, even though it is the “Main Character”. This creates tension because it creates an effect on the audience; the shark is portrayed as an unearthly, invincible, being that no one seems to be able to capture. For the first part the image of the shark is left for the audience’s imagination. In this way Spielberg plays on the fear of the unknown. He doesn’t keep the audience in suspense for a very long time because he knew that that would just be extremely
‘Jaws’ is one of Spielberg’s most easily recognisable movies. It is unique in a way that is rarely seen in cinema. He set a new standard for horror films. In this movie, the small northern town of Amity is ‘haunted’ by a great white shark which kills its first victim in the abandoned night. It is an attack which, when later discovered, causes police chief Brody, against his will, to let the beach stay open for the fourth of July due to the fact that it was the main source of income for the town. Consequentially there is another shark attack on a child on the fourth of July. This causes panic and Brody, out of shame, is forced to force the Mayor to close down the beach and hire Quint to kill the shark.
First a shark expert from National Geographic, called Hooper and then Quint and Brody acquire Quint’s boat and head off for adventure…
This blatantly fails and results in Quint being eaten by the shark. Conclusively it seems only luck (Brody shooting the shark) can defeat this unearthly being.
I like the way tension is built up in this movie; the jaws theme tune is played whenever there is suspicion of a shark attack (e.g. when, at the beach, on July 4th, the boys prank is happening). This has a profound effect on the audience because they suspect the attack but then find out it is just a prank. Suddenly the actual shark is in the shallow ‘pond’ where it is supposed to be safe.
Also I like the way Spielberg has created the movie so that the shark is not shown for a long period of time, even though it is the “Main Character”. This creates tension because it creates an effect on the audience; the shark is portrayed as an unearthly, invincible, being that no one seems to be able to capture. For the first part the image of the shark is left for the audience’s imagination. In this way Spielberg plays on the fear of the unknown. He doesn’t keep the audience in suspense for a very long time because he knew that that would just be extremely