Sr3yas's Reviews > Jaws

The best part about the book was the one time when the Great White Shark leaped from the ocean and shouted: Don't Hate The Player, Hate The Game!



Okay, that might not have happened.

Jaws tells the story of the people who live in Amity, a small seaside resort town which depends on summer tourists for its income. The town got a comparatively peaceful community, helmed by a gregarious mayor, a working-class police chief and a resourceful editor of the local newspaper. The town is having a hard time, but the hard-working people of the town are making the best of it.

Enter the Shark.



But wait! There is something even more sinister lurking around in Amity. Behold THE SOAP OPERA.



It's tough to create a perfect creature feature story. Most of the time, the writers focus on creatures/horror tropes and forget to build solid human characters. A perfect story is supposed balances human characters and creature fun perfectly, which Jaws was able to accomplish in the first act: A bloody introduction to action, a great spectrum of characters, and intriguing small-town politics.

But the middle portion of the story is less captivating... no, scratch that, it is boring compared to the opening act. At one time, this was how my brain was reacting to the story:

"Don't do that, girl! You can't have an affair now! "

"Oh, you sly dog. There is more to this than meets the eye, isn't there?."

"Family Drama, Gaaaaaah"

"Gangsters? What gangsters?"

"Wait, wasn't there supposed to be a shark somewhere in the novel?"

The final act is action filled, and all the shark attacks are fun to read, but at the end of the day, Shark gotta do what a shark gotta do, and it was the flaws of human players which held the story back.

And yup, the movie is much better than the book. Go Spielberg.