Jaws Reviews
Twitch
Jaws remains, decades later, a near perfect film.
Full Review
| Original Score: A+
The Nation
Basically, Jaws is an excellent routine movie, the sort normally made on a moderate budget and aimed at the neighborhood houses.
Times-Picayune
Spielberg knows exactly how the human mind works, and he uses that knowledge to plumb the elemental fear buried deep within.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Reel Film Reviews
...the movie's justifiably legendary opening [paves] the way for an engrossing first act that's heightened by both Scheider's magnetic performance and the inclusion of several unbearably tense interludes.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Creative Loafing
Spielberg fashioned an instant classic whose success owes as much to his superb orchestration as to the substantial jolts and knockout performances by Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
Before we see anything, our ears are chilled by composer John Williams' menacing two note soundtrack which then builds into that unforgettable frenzy as the unseen shark savages its first victim.
Full Review
| Original Score: 9/10
Birmingham Post
Jaws retains its power to enthrall and shock at the same time.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
The Ooh Tray
You think of the excess that followed in Jaws' wake and realise how well judged that first blockbuster is.
What Culture
It remains an influence on the modern blockbuster, and is one of its best examples.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
Guardian [UK]
This is a suspense classic that leaves teeth-marks.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Total Film
Jaws is a perfect blend of set-pieces and story, its formula so hard to capture it's now near-mythical - filmmakers have been chasing it like Ahab chasing Moby Dick ever since.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
The List
The aquatic terror is deftly balanced with lively, likeable characterisations.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Three Movie Buffs
Forget Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler's List. This is Spielberg's masterwork.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
Antagony & Ecstasy
One of the absolute masterpieces of populist cinema.
Full Review
| Original Score: 10/10
Common Sense Media
Five-star movie could scare the pants off kids.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Matt's Movie Reviews
Spielberg has directed a film which contains many unforgettable and suspenseful moments. That Jaws was only his second feature film says something about the talent and ingenuity the man possessed even at such an early stage in his career.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Nolan's Pop Culture Review
To be brief and to the point, the GREATEST FILM EVER MADE! Thank you for your time.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Simply put, Jaws turned the tide of American cinema: irrevocably, and not for the better.
ColeSmithey.com
In the end, the shark is a MacGuffin necessary for the men to bond and test themselves against what they fear most--their own mortality.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
TIME Magazine
Top CriticSpielberg works self-effacingly, with subtly correct camera placement and meticulous editing. He twists our guts with false alarms, giving us the real thing with heart-stopping suddenness.
