I am ashamed to admit it, but I've just seen this movie for the first time now (on Feb. 27th, 2019), so this review has to be seen in that context: We have 2019, so the movie is nearly 45 years old, I am in my mid thirties and a movie enthusiast since at least half of my life, so I've seen a number of movies already.

So, I probably cannot appreciate this movie as much as someone who has seen it in his early years or who was even lucky enough seeing this movie when it was released.

Yet, as you can already see, I really enjoyed this movie. It is incredibly iconic, and if you are a movie enthusiast you will probably recognize a dozen movies that where inspired by, or that pay tribute to this movie. I especially had to laugh at the scene with the white board.

Other than that, it has aged incredibly well. I watched a Blu-ray version that was released by Universal for their 100th anniversary and it has crisp images - there is only one image that is strange, but that's probably due to editing (the scene has both, near focus on a head in the foreground and far focus on the sea at the background and right at the border of these two images you have a really blurry line, so I guess, this scene consists of the image of two cameras that where joined together in editing) - a good sound quality, the dialogues weren't to stale, there are some really great images some of them where you wonder how they managed to achieve those shots in the 1970 on a small boat, and even though the shark puppets are not realistic at all, in general the movie manages to build up a really frightening atmosphere, and there was also one jump-scare-esque scene that really got me (and it's really seldom that I get scared like this by a movie). Also story wise it manages to captivate you and surprises you in the way it evolves. So even though it is that old and even if you've seen so many movies that you feel like you've seen it all, this movie will leave a mark and you will understand why people will tell you that it's one of the best movies.

From today's perspective I'd rate it 8/10, because a) the shark puppets made me laugh - they ARE really bad - b) it had a few lengths and c) some decisions did not make too much sense to me. But I gave it an additional point, because thinking of it, this movie has produced a milestone in cinemas, it is absolutely ambitious and for that time really extremely good produced. And most of all: It has inspired so many movies that followed. I didn't know how many actually where, but watching this I was reminded of a couple of films, and I guess the number is much higher and if I'd watched this one before I've seen all the other movies I would probably realized more movie inspirations than I was able to.

If you haven't seen it already (and let's be honest: who beside me hasn't?!) what are you doing? Please don't wait longer, you are missing out on general knowledge.

A very good, and evidently a very influential, film from 1975.

That release year doesn't even sound correct, the film holds up extremely well in that regard - I knew already, but if I didn't and I had guessed the year I wouldn't have said anything earlier than 1990. This alone raises the film up ½* for me - it's impressively made.

I don't, personally, think the story is as perfect as the aforementioned. Don't get me wrong it's all entertaining, but I feel it peaks with the shark terrorising the town as a whole - when it's down to just the trio, I didn't enjoy it quite as much. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss do give notable performances, though.

Going back to my initial point, the effects for the shark are incredible. I kinda wanted to simply see more of just the shark, even if we do get more of the great white towards the conclusion. Heck, the film from the shark's prospective would've been 5*. Lastly, that John Williams score is sensational - I think every film fan, whether they've seen it or not, knows that famous theme.

Almost 47 years after its release, I've finally seen 'Jaws'. I don't honestly think the story/the characters itself are anything out of this world, but there's so much to admire and praise from a technical aspect. A marvel, really.

**THE CAWPINE OF ‘JAWS’**


WRITING: 8
ATMOSPHERE: 9
CHARACTERS: 8
PRODUCTION: 9
INTRIGUE: 10
NOVELTY: 9
ENJOYMENT: 9

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**The Good:**

Jaws is another technical achievement for Steven Spielberg. By combining ingenious camera techniques, sharp editing and carefully chosen angles, Spielberg creates a tense and scary atmosphere that largely makes the fake killer shark seem alive and dangerous even 45 years later.

The score is arguably the first legendary Joh Williams score and remains one of the most recognizable, sinister and tense scores he has ever created.

The shark remains an effective terror even today, mostly thanks to the fact that the actual animal is shown very sparingly. We only see glimpses of the shark, but the music, the dark of the night, the roaring sea and the blood-soaked water makes the audience imagine all the terrors happening below the surface.

The script expertly builds up tension and setting up the legendarily tense 50-minute final act and climax with three very different people crammed on a boat too small. There are many false leads, which adds to our insecurity about whether we should be scared for real or not.

Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw are all amazing. Dreyfuss is spot-on as an eager, young scientist while Shaw makes for a believably confident fisherman/shark hunter. Scheider is a likeable police chief and family father, without falling for the later summer blockbuster action hero stereotype.

The way Spielberg shifts from quiet moments without dialogue or music to tense moments of horror, violence and an ominous score is ingenious.

I can only imagine how brilliantly tense and violent those final few minutes must have been back in 1975 when this film first premiered. It's still a very memorable scene today.

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**The Bad:**

People talking on top of each other make some conversations difficult to follow.

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**The Ugly:**

I’m still surprised they didn’t get a bigger boat.

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**CAWPINE RATING: 8.86 / 10 = 4,5 stars**

A very good, and evidently a very influential, film from 1975.

That release year doesn't even sound correct, the film holds up extremely well in that regard - I knew already, but if I didn't and I had guessed the year I wouldn't have said anything earlier than 1990. This alone raises the film up ½* for me - it's impressively made.

I don't, personally, think the story is as perfect as the aforementioned. Don't get me wrong it's all entertaining, but I feel it peaks with the shark terrorising the town as a whole - when it's down to just the trio, I didn't enjoy it quite as much. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss do give notable performances, though.

Going back to my initial point, the effects for the shark are incredible. I kinda wanted to simply see more of just the shark, even if we do get more of the great white towards the conclusion. Heck, the film from the shark's prospective would've been 5*. Lastly, that John Williams score is sensational - I think every film fan, whether they've seen it or not, knows that famous theme.

Almost 47 years after its release, I've finally seen 'Jaws'. I don't honestly think the story/the characters itself are anything out of this world, but there's so much to admire and praise from a technical aspect. A marvel, really.

This is one of my favourite films ever and I've loved it since I was a child, everything from John Williams iconic shark theme to the chilling opening scene. Jaws is nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece.