Thursday, July 7, 2011

"Jaws" Movie Review

DUUUH-DUN.
DUUUH-DUN.
Duuh-dun, Duuh-dun.

And so begins the iconic 1975 summer blockbuster that is "Jaws". Today was the first time I've ever seen the movie, which was so incredibly awesome that I'm only sorry I haven't given it a chance sooner! Oh well, better now than never.

Not only was I altogether impressed with how thrilling "Jaws" was, I also loved the musical score by John Williams (same guy who composed the themes for "Star Wars", "Indiana Jones", "Jurassic Park", and "E.T." among others), the acting from the 3 main guys on the poster as well as the countless extras, and the amazing cinematography. (Trivia Fact: director of photography was Bill Butler, who also was cinematographer for the movies "Grease", "Rocky 2", "3" and 4", and "Hot Shots!")

The suspense was incredible. I was little more than Silly-Putty in the movie's "hands" whenever it was even hinted that Jaws would make an imminent appearance. For instance, there's a scene where first it shows the undersides of swimming children. I thought, "No, not the kids!" Then when the camera held for a few seconds on an old couple floating together, I thought, "No, not the old couple!" Then when the dog runs into the water to fetch a stick, I thought, "O.K., the bet is on. Who can guess the next victim?"

There were so many great parts in this movie that if you asked me what my favorite part was, I wouldn't be able to decide whether it was when Roy Scheider said the famous line, "We're going to need a bigger boat", or when Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw are comparing battle-scars, or when I found myself yelling at the crazy tourists to "GET OUT OF THE WATER!" only to find out it was a false alarm afterwards.

I've heard rumours that seeing this movie will make you never want to go swimming in the ocean again, but take my word for it: you can enjoy the movie and go to bed without having nightmares if you just remember that the shark is faker than Monopoly play-money, and the red color in the water is not real blood. That's what got me through the film anyway.

Also, thanks to this movie, I've decided to come out of hiding and return to blogging. "Jaws" was just that good.