Jaws is a splendidly shrewd cinematic equation which not only gives you one or two very nasty turns when you least expect them but, possibly more important, knows when to make you think another's coming without actually providing it.
With no superheroes or post-apocalyptic wastelands in sight, the skill behind Jaws becomes even more thrilling to watch unfold. ... Quite literally, Jaws is the original and the best.
New York Magazine/Vulture
July 29, 2013
The result is a fast-paced, straight-line thriller that moves without pause toward the climactic contest at sea between three men and a 25-foot, 3-ton great while killer shark.
The Young Folks
June 20, 2015
Jaws knew how to keep audiences invested. While getting to know the human characters and seeing what makes them relatable, the audience salivates for another monster scene.
Spielberg had paced the film beautifully so that one is always on edge, tensed for those scary moments that turn out to be false alarms, and left somehow totally unprepared for the real shocks.
It may be the most cheerfully perverse scare movie ever made. Even while you're convulsed with laughter you're still apprehensive, because the editing rhythms are very tricky, and the shock images loom up huge, right on top of you.
Cinemaphile.org
July 17, 2016
Relentless and intense, with characters that are the accurate realizations of their behaviors and special effects that dwarf the limits of the time.
I don't think there's a more exciting talent at work right now than Spielberg, an authentic moviemaking prodigy, and perhaps his worst problem from June 20, 1975, on will be preventing success from making a nervous or artistic wreck of him.
