Customer Reviews

Jaws (1975) 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition (Limited Edition) [DVD]

5 star:		(192)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've broken a golden rule with myself as I vowed never to buy a Blu-ray at its full price if I already owned the film on a multitude of formats (VHS , Laserdisc , DVD)... but some films are just worth paying that extra for , and I honestly couldn't wait for the price to drop as this is one of my all time favourite films.
Its going to be hard not to quote lines from the film or make any corny puns writing this review , so will do my best not too.

After the disappointing picture quality of Spielberg's Jurassic Park box set on Blu-ray , I was more than a little wary of this transfer , but I'm pleased to say that all is excellent with Jaws.
The 7.1 remastering is just incredible through my AV receiver! It was like being sat in the middle of a 94 piece orchestra and has now topped the best sound on any of my Blu-rays.
The scene where the shark attacks the guy in the estuary is a good example of a subtle change in sound. There's a nice deep bass thud through the subwoofer when he is pulled underwater from his upturned boat , and although its a tiny tweak to the sound , it really makes all the difference and now that scene appears more violent than it already was.
The night time attack on the Orca has a similar effect of making a scene more potent , with more bass thudding punch to the sound coming from every direction around your front room when the shark repeatedly hits the boat , and by NO means is the new sound overpowering to these scenes , its just the right touch.

The picture restoration is just fantastic , although I nearly spat my drink out at one point ! Not through being made to jump at a scene but at one stage , I thought Mr Lucas had broken into the editing lounge with his trusty laptop and tweaked about with Spielberg's masterpiece... Thankfully , I wasn't in for a world of hurt , pain and misery , and when I compared the DVD to this Blu-ray , it was more down to the new colour restoration and new clarity that I was unused to with this film. The scene in question is with the two shooting stars , which now appear to have more of a reddish hue making them look more vibrant , and not down to Mr Lucas's destroy, destroy , destroy mentality... PHEW !

Some excellent documentaries with this Blu-ray which is around 4 hours worth , some of which have been transferred straight from the Laserdisc and DVD with a couple of new ones. Notably , The Shark is Still Working documentary , which is a brilliant addition to the extras , but all the features are worth watching again and again.
It just doesn't matter how many times I see the deleted scene of Quint in the music shop , it cracks me up every time and its a shame that actually got cut from the film.
There's also a short documentary on the restoration process , which Mr Lucas might find helpful as to what is appropriate and WHAT ISN'T ! Can't help but think that Spielberg is sending a subtle message to Mr Lucas in one of his interviews by saying that 'less is more' and if he had the technology of CGI back when he was filming Jaws , it wouldn't be as good !

I do know some people who spend vast sums of money on the latest TV to ensure they're getting the best quality picture , but then still watch a film with the sound through their TV speakers , with the attitude of "so long as I can hear it , it doesn't matter" and just don't realise what a dramatic impact a good sound setup can do to any film and can cost as little as £50 for a basic system , and really are only getting half of the whole Blu-ray experience without a good home cinema system.
For me , and this is a personal preference , sound is the most important element that I look for when upgrading a film to Blu-ray , picture quality a very close second and the amount of extras comes third.

This Blu-ray ticks all the right boxes and more and with the new picture and sound it really feels like your watching this film for the very first time , which I know sounds a little cliché , but just can't recommend this Blu-ray highly enough.
All in all , I'm ecstatic with this upgrade and hope that the Blu-ray box set of Indiana Jones due out next month , is as good in quality as this JAWSome film...Sorry , couldn't resist.

If you have not seen it - please go out and get it now. Action films simply do not compare to movies like this. Jaws is subtle, clever and at times hilarious, and unlike most blockbusters does not rely on special effects and trifling acts of sensationalism to sell. The film is about a killer shark, but for the first half of the film we do not see her - this is what makes the film great - we are able instead to concentrate on the way humans react to this unseen force. The scheming town mayor is an accurate satire on the self-important local busy-body who thinks only of the financial ruin the shark could cause. Don't miss the on going duels between the rich college boy Hooper and the working class hero Quint - it is here where some of the best dialogue appears. The first half of the film is so good one almost forgets about the shark as a physical entity, more of an abstract notion which is only conceived by the way the islanders behave. The second half is where all the action happens as far as seeing the shark up close and personal. All in all, a film of two halves which compliment each other exquisitely. Get it - you can watch it again and again and you will always pick up a witicism that you had not heard before. It will never die

This is the set for the ultimate collector. This limited edition set comes in a black box. Don't worry, the box will
fit on your DVD shelf, it is about the same height as a standard
box, and about as wide as two normal DVD boxes put together.

Even if you got the 25th Anniversary edition, splashing out on this one is definitely worth it. As with the normal version you get the two DVDs. Disk one contains the movie in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with DTS 5.1 Surround sound. The picture quality is vey good, although there are a few 'white spots' here and there.

The second disk contains a 1 hour 50 min documentary, containing everything from Universal winning the rights to the novel, through production and the mechanical shark not working, all the way to the release of the film. Since the film is quite old, there is not much behind the scenes footages. This documentary is composed mainly of people just talking.

Other features include; a Spielberg interview on set from 1974, some shark facts, 13 deleted scenes, outtakes, storyboard and image gallery.

This collector's edition also includes a soundtrack C.D., a limited edition senitape, 8 lobby cards, 6 publicity stills and a sketch book.

Stunning restoration with beautiful detail and soundtrack. This is THE must have version for fans of the movie.

You will not be dissapointed!

One day early in 1976, I discovered a school friend reading a book which he told me was about people on an island being terrorised by a killer shark. I thought it was a hysterical idea and laughed my head off, but just a few short months later, the posters appeared everywhere, depicting the conical, toothsome head propelling towards a hapless surface swimmer and proclaiming "She was the first". JAWS had arrived, and like everyone else I was queuing round the block, desperate to see what has become one of the most famous, talked about, and influential movies of our time.

The story is well known, probably even by people who weren't born when the film came out. One man, police chief Brody (Roy Scheider) against a killer shark and the fictitious community of Amity Island, a town that won't face the truth about the monster in its midst. Brody is joined in his escapade by oceanographer Hooper, played by Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw in a career-topping performance as rough-diamond shark hunter Quint, the man with a liking for scraping his fingernails down blackboards and comparing war-wounds. All three are excellent, cutting tremendously engaging characters and helping the storyline to flow seamlessly. In the early scenes the shark itself is portrayed largely as an unseen menace, picking off its victims and teasing the audience with clever camera angles and of course John Williams' legendary soundtrack. The suspense builds brilliantly, but there are some humorous moments as well. and the child actors create some entertaining diversion - kids playing with a fake shark fin cause widespread panic at the beach. A poignant interaction between Brody and his son at the dinner table - all scenes of vintage Spielberg.

But it's in the second half, essentially a three-hander between Scheider, Dreyfuss and Shaw, when the movie really comes into it's own. The claustrophobic isolation of Quint's creaky fishing boat sets the scene for a final stand off between man and man-eater. The three make an ill-fitting team and it's clear from the outset who's going to come off worse. When the final pay-off comes, it's every bit the result of two hours of carefully racked-up tension, and enough to leave the viewer heaving a sigh of relief when it's over.

The big question is of course, more than 30 years on, is JAWS still a great film? And to me the answer will always be a resounding YES!! It stands up to repeated viewing and created a style much imitated even today. Maybe by today's standards the model shark (nicknamed "Bruce" by the film makers) seems phoney, and the movie certainly fell victim to sequel-syndrome in the years that followed, but these are minor flaws in a work of exceptional merit. If you've never caught it before, whatever you do, don't miss this classic.

Jaws is one of those classics that, no matter how many times you see it, you are able to watch time and again without feeling bored. Sure, you know the ending, but who cares when a film is this much fun?! For those of you who haven't seen this film (how you managed to avoid it I can't even guess!) it won't spoil the film much by simply saying that, when a giant great white shark terrorizes a sleepy community, all hell breaks loose and it's up to the local law-man to set things right.

You can tell from the off that this film is a classic, with the opening score, that has become so synonymous with the animal star of the film, by the great John Williams (who has also written the score for Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Home Alone, Jurassic Park and, more recently, Harry Potter, to name but a few). The acting is much more than you would expect from the average film of this genre, and this above all else keeps the viewer hooked to the very end. For their time the action sequences are excellent, though by todays standards they would seem dreadful. This does, however, not detract from the movie in the slightest.

Jaws has had a huge following, and will always be hailed as a classic. The film is so good, in fact, that it has created an almost world-wide fear of the great white shark. Of course, included on the DVD are a multitude of special features - even an educational video - so you can learn for yourself the whether or not this beast will rise from the deep next time you're out having a doggy-paddle! The full list of features is printed above, so I won't bore you with repetativeness. Needless to say that there is an impressive array of special features which far out-weigh those of most DVD's both in terms of content and quality.

To sum things up:

If you have seen this film and enjoyed it, then this is the DVD for you. If you haven't seen this film there are few that I can recommend more highly. Rent it, buy it, but whatever you do, you MUST see this film!

I completely agree with the review of the film, it is my personal No.1 but i must criticise the new DVD package. Originally a 2-hour documentary was made in 1995 for the 20th aniv. in the USA and in 1997 a docu. called 'In the Teeth of Jaws' was shown on British TV with some great extra stuff about Robert Shaw and what a force of nature he was, and also about the Orca.
In 2000 for the 25th aniv DVD, this docu. was shown as a 50-minute edit which was fine and the DVD had good trailers and a few outtakes and extras. Now for the 30th aniv, they have given us the full 2-hour 1995 docu. but left out the Robert Shaw and Orca stuff. Also they have taken out the trailers and added about 10 seconds of a deleted scene.
I have never seen a new DVD which took stuff out as well as adding it and it's obvious thay have plenty in the can which will come out slowly in time. The Robert Shaw stuff was brilliant. It talked about how he purposely needled Richard Dreyfuss to help the tension between the 2 characters and how he would drink Wild Turkey at 5am when he was picked up to go to the island and how they sent people to drink with him and keep him under control and when one passed out, they sent another!!!
In addition the sound effect of the whale that they hear in the cabin is suddenly different and the sound when the shark blows up is weak. Not sure about the Brody dialogue mentioned by someone else. Anyway, i'm giving the film 5 stars but the DVD 4. Enjoy the film anyway!!!!

I am loath to give this film anything less than 5 stars but in this instance a ball has been dropped. A small ball, maybe. But even small balls can hurt when dropped.

One of the most iconic films of a generation has finally been brought out in stunning high definition and it is stunning. The restoration is fantastic. Sound and picture are hyper clear and thankfully the restoration has not had softening noise reduction thrown at it. It looks beautifully grainy where it should. Jaws was the film I had been waiting for and went straight into the collection as a pre-order as soon as this steelbook was released.

Bit of a shame then really that this Steelbook is prone to become easily nicked or scratched due to the glossy nature of the artwork but secondly and a bit more importantly is the access to the film in the menu section.

I sat through the glorious montage of bells and whistles celebrating 100 years of Universal films and prepared myself for the main feature only to be greeted by one of the worst menu systems ever. It begins with the scene of the Summer Girl first victim and then the menu features open up for use. Sounds nice and all but you need to be somewhat experienced in hieroglyphics in order to gain correct access to the various features, extras, subtitles etc, there is no text and save for the familiar 'Play' triangle, the others are vague symbols to say the least.

It is standard, corporate and a pretty mundane menu system. 'So What' some may cry. Well 'Why Not?" The beauty of Blu Ray is that it is the definitive release of a film certainly in physical form. It will be digital downloads from here on in so if you want to actually own the film then really Blu-ray will be the final physical format. So for this reason why don't the studios produce these definitive versions with the attention they deserve.

As I mentioned, the restoration of this film has been comprehensive and the documentary regarding this process included in the extra features is a must watch. So with this treatment it really feels to me that the menu system has just received an afterthought. My reckoning as to the reasons for this spawn from Universals' commitment to include their infamous silver 'swish' border at the left hand side of all their menu screens. It prohibits developers from indulging their creativity and results in a half hearted effort.

Take a film I recently bought as an example; First Blood [Blu-ray] This film is under £4 (at time of writing) and it was also one of the earliest Blu-ray releases ever released, put together by British company Studiocanals' Optimum blu-ray department. The film itself has received a fair HD transfer and very little in the way of extras but the menu system is in keeping with the film and pays homage with a showcase of scenes and an interactive Bowie knife to select the menu options. It is relatively basic but it trumps the bells and whistles release of this feature, hands down.

Great examples of Menu systems for reference would include:
Alien Anthology [Blu-ray] [1979] [6 Disc Set]
Iron Man (2 Disc) [Blu-ray][Region Free] [2008]
Star Trek XI [Blu-ray] [2009][Region Free]

Rant over. So (a harsh, maybe) 4.5 stars for this release as the film itself is truly the definitive presentation.

I am almost lost for words. The picture quality and sound quality is immense, 10/10. They have properly remastered this film from the original cells and not done a cheap dvd upscale. There isn't a single bit of grain or noise to be seen in the picture.

The other good thing is that you get a digital copy for use with Windows and iTunes along with the worthless ultraviolet copy. Had it just been the ultraviolet copy, I wouldn't have bought this as I have had a lot of problems with Ultraviolet by way of getting the movies in the first instance and then having to use Flixster app to watch the films. I avoid all ultraviolet blu ray editions, no digital copy for iTunes, no purchase of blu ray.

I have had no issues with the digital copy in Scotland, I have seen some reviews with issue in other countries. The file size of the digital copy via iTunes is 2.05gb so it will take a while to download on standard 8mb DSL.

All in all, no matter how many times you have seen this film, you haven't seen it till you watch the blu ray version.

I received my tin cased copy this morning and I can honestly say it's a fantastic production. The scene where Alex Kintner gets chewed up is truely horrifying as is the spruced up 7.1 sound that accompanies this especially if you have some good speakers and amplifier set up!

A real pleasure!