PRESENTS

The shark is clunky, yes, but it being the main event in a movie full of firsts makes it one of the greatest - at least most historic - creature builds of all time. True to Spielberg form, the cast of characters are a delight to witness. The dialogue is quippy, but natural and the relationships seem earnest, making it impossible to not love and root for the heroes. And, as if the charm of the animatronic shark, the lovable characters and quotable one liners wasn't already summing up to a cult classic, Spielberg sets it all to a timeless and bombastic orchestral soundtrack composed by the greatest of all time, John Williams himself.

Jaws, like much media from its era, is best enjoyed through the lens of its time. Upon holding it up to modern blockbusters one becomes susceptible to a weakened suspension of disbelief and may get hung up on things like the numerous boating scenes where the pacing drags as heavy as the floaters harpooned to the back of the diving mega fish. This is a film built on a bedrock of mystique and excitement and, nowadays, nostalgia. If the audience is unable to key into any of these motifs pre-viewing, aspects of the film become exposed to quibbling criticism. Not unlike a crabbing boat off the coast of Amity Island taking on water in shark infested seas.