Jaws

A lot of people think that sharks are dangerous to humans, and while a shark bite tends to be fatal, their representation in film is grossly inaccurate. Jaws is one of those films and while it’s a good story, even the author of the book (yes, it was a book first) regrets having written it as it has led to the near extinction of certain species of shark.

Jaws made the summer blockbuster a thing, go ahead and say what you will, it’s the truth. Without Jaws we would have to wait for who knows how long for a movie with a huge budget, an ensemble cast, and as good an excuse plot as our screenwriters can muster up in six to nine months!

Follow Police Chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider) the day after a young girl’s remains have been found washed up on the beach… in pieces we think. They never do show us thank god. Poor, poor Chrissie made the unfortunate error of going skinny dipping the night a killer shark decided to show up and eat people… why? I… I don’t think they ever really gave an answer that merits repeating.

Aside from that, of course, this is a Summer Resort town in New England, so of course everyone is going to ignore the person whose job it is to provide safety to an area alongside a wealth of evidence because it would kill tourism. If a place is that dependent on the beach as a draw… I don’t even know any more. Moving on.

Everyone ignores Brody until another victim drops, a young kid, and obviously it is Brody’s fault for not having shut down the beach even though the… Logic? Anyone? If the Mayor forces you to disregard your job and someone dies, shouldn’t it be the mayor’s fault? No, just checking.

Herein lies the stupidity. Everyone now knows about the shark so how do we end the story? Yes! You stay out of the ocean! Do they do that? Of course not. That would require some semblance of intelligence. At least the victims in a slasher film don’t know they’re being brutally butchered one by one until there are like… three people left. This town has warning, evidence, and enough bodies that you’d believe common sense would intervene at some point. Alas, common sense is a superpower these days and so a few more people needlessly die because the plot demands it.

Really, Jaws is a silly movie but it’s a good silly movie. The characters are likeable, for the most part, the part makes sense, sometimes, and the… Treat it like an action film and come for the destruction and you should be just fine.

Of course, there are also a slew of unnecessary sequels that vary on quality. I tend to like 2 and 3 but 4… 4 is nonexistent of course. There is no Jaws 4, believe me, I’m a writer!