Jaws

OVERALL OPINION: This is probably the biggest must watch in both movies and just life in general. If you don’t want to watch this film then. SPOILER WARNING I want to start with what I knew I would spend a lot of time writing. One of the best scened ever is in this film and that is the absolutely beautiful nighttime boat scene. For those who have forgotten, the nighttime boat scene consists of three main points: 1. Comparing Scars 2. The epic monologue 3. Singing. The scar part of this scene is a fascinating beginning to the scene sharing some fun anecdotes from both Hooper and (my favourite) character Quint. This starts the scene great and sets up the next part which genuinely gave me some of the strongest goosebumps I have ever had for the rest of the scene. I am of course talking about Quint’s insane monologue about the 1945 Indianapolis. This real story gives us context behind Quint’s obsession and confidence in his shark hunting. He empowers this story by really going into detail about sharks and how heartless they are by only looking them in the eye. Then the scene ends with all of the men singing together finding happiness and fun while hunting down a shark that has four times already. This scene truly is the best scene in this film! The cinematography in this film is on point. From when they first set off and you see it through the bone of a shark’s jaw to the beautiful shot of the boat’s silhouette as you see Quint on the end and the other two together at the wheel. Those are just two examples of the absolute masterclass that this film does. This film has one of the most famous villains of all time and for such unique reasons compared to other icons such as Darth Vader, The Joker, Hannibal Lector, Nurse Ratchet, Lord Voldemort and so on. This film uses the art of showing without showing which is something Steven Spielberg utilises in other films, most notably in Jurassic Park with the T-Rex. The fear of The Shark in this is driven by the epic John Williams score. You can tell whenever The Shark is present you always hear the famous leitmotif. This is why when the kids pretend to have a shark attack you hear absolutely nothing. The sounds really catch your eye in when the two sailors stay up at night to try catch the shark. This is because when we see The Shark swim away from the two, the music quiets down until The Shark swims back and all of a sudden the menacing music blasts as The Shark attacks. The fact that we never see an explicit kill from The Shark (even though they filmed a scene of him actually violently eating the child but cut it out for this exact reason) shows a lot on how just music alone can scare an audience. Speaking of scaring an audience, this film has a very specific type of jumpscare where rather than using sound and music to build up the audience’s anticipation for the jump (like in Scream when Sidney wonders her house, opening doors that don’t know what is on the other side to). This film takes jumpscares and removes the anticipation. This means that you will find jumps at complete random times. Rather than a full moment to make the audience fear what’s coming, this film scares you before you can even process what’s on the screen. One of the most memorable jumps in any film is the underwater head scene as it is out of nowhere and is also the first jump in the entire movie. The one thing that I can’t help but notice every time I watch this film is the obvious cut that we have in the middle of the autopsy. We get a new camera shot of Hooper holding the hand previously belonging to the girl who died in the opening scene. He says something along the lines of “So this is what happens” and then immediately cuts away. This is a poor cut that shows that he was meant to say more in that scene. Since I’m talking about the issues I would also like to point out that when Quint dies, you can clearly see the pillows he has in The Shark’s mouth. I love this mistake and it is one of my favourite film mistakes ever. Something I find really fascinating is the use of extras in the streets at the beginning of the film. I was told that I was looking too far into things but I believe that Spielberg wanted to use extras to create a sense of authenticity and 4th of July chaos and craze. During that scene on the streets, we see many extras walking in their own paths very fast to show the audience that right now people are preparing for 4th of July. We can see large American flags in the background to give a sense of celebration with the chaos. The fact that everyone is dressed in summer wear shows that the idea of closing down the beach is not going to be an easy task for our protagonist as the town is famous for summer activities. This is all I have left to say off the top or my head. All I can say now is that Robert Shaw pulled a masterclass performance in this film as every time he speaks it feels like quality screentime.