Review: Jaws

            Jaws is a 1975 suspense/thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg. The setting is in the town of Amity Island, New England. A ferocious, monster shark has been on a killing spree this summer and Martin Brody, our protagonist and the new Chief of Police, is determined to catch this beast. When one of the victims mother advertises a reward in exchange for the man-eating villain, shark hunters and fishermen descend onto the island seeking to claim their prize.

One of the components Spielberg used that I liked was not letting the audience actually see the shark until the second half of the movie. The mystery surrounding the shark created tension and terror in the community as well as in the audience. I enjoyed Spielberg’s cutting, for example when the shark attacked the second victim, Alex Kintner, we cut to Brody on the beach as he is witnessing this horrific attack. The camera dollys in as it zooms out to show Brody’s disbelief of the scene unfolding before his very eyes. The sound scape in Jaws was perfect for the film. The incomparable sounds before the monstrous shark strikes produce a frightening anxiety in the audience and confirm the impending doom that we know will befall the innocent victim. Spielberg is the “meticulous” director and that is evident in Jaws, no detail was too small for him to fret over.

I would say the main theme in Jaws is Man vs. Nature. The main character, Martin Brody must overcome this natural beast, the shark, in order to restore the island back to its relaxing summer state. And in the end Brody lodges a scuba tank in the shark’s mouth and shoots the tank blowing the shark to smithereens, therefore demonstrating that man has overcome the boorish, natural beast.