Jaws is a prime example of why I should not review older films revered as classics. While as a Gen X-er I haven’t got the Youtube Viral Video, wow me in 140 characters, gee K$sha is talented attitude and associated attention span of the Gen Y-ers, Jaws is nonetheless still too slow and frankly not scary for me to dub it an immortal.
The titular giant future-flake terrorises the small island town of Amity Island, but in the beginning none of the locals wish to acknowledge what they might be facing. Even after a missing girl turns up gnawed on and Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) labels it a shark attack, he is written off as an sensationalist. Besides the 50th anniversary of the town is due, bringing with it scads of tourists and their lovely money.
But ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away (they should have tried turning it off and on), and when a young boy becomes victim #2 in view of half of the population the beaches are ordered closed and the brains trust get to a’thinkin’…
Unfortunately a lack of brains and consensus results in only a muddle for a while, even with the kind offer of fish bounty hunter Quint to take down the beastie for cash, the only thing all can agree on is that something needs to be done. So a bounty is puts on the head of the shark, and suddenly all the landlubbers become cash hungry boathogs on a sardine safari.
This frenzy of activity brings results, but is the captured shark the right one? Sharkspert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) thinks not, but his argument is drowned out by the sound of slip-slop-slap as the hordes return to the beach.
The second half of the film has Brody, Quint and Hooper far out to sea on Quint’s rusty old vessel the Orca, taking turns at hunting and being hunted. It is only once way off shore that we finally catch a good look at ol’ Bitey, and the wait does indeed make the suspense greater. For mine though the scares were very infrequent, with the best one hands down being your standard loud noise jump, though a very good one.
Fair enough if you’re scared of sharks then there is indeed much to be scared about, the film is about a killer shark after all, but if you’re not really that fussed with them at conceptual level this is unlikely to change your mindset. I myself don’t have a pathological fear or hatred of sharks, I mean I would if one zoomed up to say hello, so I have made what I think is the sensible decision of staying out of their backyard. I’m not especially afraid of spiders either, but if a big tarantula was winding its way up my leg that would likely change.
My level of fear regarding these things is proportionate to how close they are to me. I don’t go in the ocean, I don’t chill near spider webs, they don’t bother me too much.
The main asset of the film is the cast, not that the acting is incredible, but here is a film where the actors look like they could be jaded policemen (Scheider), marine experts (Dreyfuss) and drunken, grizzled lone wolf fishermen (Shaw). The trio interact like three guys who have been thrown together only because of circumstances should, they bicker, argue and tease one another, then find common ground once alcohol greases the wheels.
There is only so long that you can have a fish and a boat play chicken, so this human element is necessary, and of course the renowned late night (true) horror story scene packs a punch.
And of course the music has stood the test of time, being used in countless parodies and spoofs since, though I must say that after the early dun-un’s in the opening scenes, the main theme doesn’t surface again until near the end of the film.
Spielberg has crafted a very high quality flick with decent suspense, a patient build up and a mix of real shark footage and the mechanical shark being interspersed expertly, but once you’ve seen a few horror movies it loses some of its impact.
Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. I liked it. But I’ve seen it now. This fish is cooked.
