Jaws (30th Anniversary Edition)
Four Stars
by Brad Brevet, ropeofsilicon.com
There is no telling how many different releases Jaws will see on DVD as the 30th Anniversary release seems a bit odd and out of place considering only five years ago Universal celebrated the big shark's 25th Anniversary with a DVD release, but who am I to complain? I get a chance to take a peek at the latest installment, but consumers might not be so giddy especially if they are asked to fork over extra cash for a DVD they already own just to get a couple of extra goodies. I guess that is the price they will have to pay for adoration.
As for the film, what can I say? This movie is fabulous! Who would have thought that in 1974 a film about a giant Great White Shark could be made using a mechanical shark, mixed with live shark footage could actually work and be scary? Luckily there was a man named Steven Spielberg around who was able to see such a vision and combined with his talent of telling the human side of the story he managed to turn a horror flick about a killer shark into just as much of a drama with his three leads getting well deserved screen time.
Before screening this DVD release I couldn't remember the last time I saw Jaws, but to be able to sit back and check it out with a DTS audio track and the clarity of DVD video was quite a treat, but as for this DVD that is where the real excitement stopped as I was a bit disappointed with the treatment of the special features, there were far too few for this to be considered anything better than the 25th Anniversary release, I mean there wasn't even a commentary track... What the hell is that about?
What you do get is a 2-hour documentary on the film, about 13-minutes worth of deleted scenes and outtakes (worthless), an old school making of featurette that was made in 1974 is pretty cool, but it is only about 9-minutes long and then there are the Jaws Archives.
The Jaws Archives are a bit of a hit-or-miss, it really depends on your patience level and your tolerance for pushing the right arrow button a million times as this section offers up looks at original storyboards, production photos, promotional material including toys and posters and some overseas promotional pics. You get my drift? This is about 30 minutes to an hour's worth of no noise and just button pushing... a lot of button pushing.
The set is rounded out by a 58-page booklet called a "Commemorative Photo Journal" that offers up pics, quotes, trivia facts, etc. about the film. It is a cool little extra but not exactly something you will be visiting often.
Overall, I am very happy to own Jaws on DVD now but I would not have bought this version if I already owned the 25th Anniversary edition, which means you shouldn't either. If you don't own this film yet on DVD then this is certainly the way to go, I am not saying don't buy this movie, I am just saying don't buy it if you already own it. Jaws is a classic, and the classic line by Chief of Police Brody (Roy Scheider), "You're gonna need a bigger boat," even recently made the AFI's Top 100 Movie Quote list and it gets you every time you hear it! Visit the official Jaws
website.
