Aug
30
“Jaws” Triple Feature at the Aero
Filed Under Movies
I made a deal with myself that if I got all of my homework done and did a 45-minute jog around [and around, and around] the block, I could go see the “Jaws” triple-bill at the Aero in Santa Monica. I am now a successful fusion of a kid and a parent — responsible, yet still fascinated by people getting eaten by malfunctioning mechanical sharks.
I’d never seen the first “Jaws” in the theater, which is something I’d been intending to rectify for years. I learned in one of my film books, a hundred-dollar doorstop called “Film Art,” that a single frame of film contains 12 million pixels of information. DVD has about half a million pixels per frame, and HD two million. So going to the cinema remains the most ass-kickingest way to see a movie. As such, I needed to see “Jaws” theatrically. I’d been seeing inferior versions on VHS and DVD all along.
Isn’t it good that I did my homework?
“JAWS”
The book “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” by Peter Biskind goes into elaborate detail about the punishing shoot for Steven Spielberg’s first blockbuster. The movie had every reason to be a colossal failure, and were it directed by perhaps anyone else, it’d probably would’ve been. The shark didn’t work, the budget ballooned, they were shooting an eighth of a page a day, production went way over schedule, and the film was given the unfortunately nickname “Flaws.”
But what Spielberg ended up with was the first film to crack $100 million at the domestic box office. “Jaws” somehow worked in spite of itself. Based on a corny page-turner by Peter Benchley, the film is a rare adaptation that eclipses the source material. I imagine some people don’t even know it’s based on a book.
Watching “Jaws” on the big screen with John Williams’ score booming was a thrill. I only wish I could’ve seen it with an audience back in ‘75, not knowing where all the scares are. The scene where Richard Dreyfuss’ character Matt Hooper finds Ben Gardner — or what’s left of him — poking out of the gaping hole in the hull of his boat is probably the film’s best gag. Spielberg’s original intention was to show more of the shark rather than suggest him. Still, the creeping fear that’s generated by not seeing the shark makes the overall impact more effective. What’s more, when we finally get a good look at the shark, during the scene with Roy Scheider’s Martin Brody chumming the water, it’s actually the film’s funniest moment, not the scariest. And it’s supposed to be. Spielberg expertly balances the humor and the horror.
The shark may not have worked, but the characters do. They’re not “types,” like you’ll find in a pre-packaged Roland Emmerich blockbuster. Brody, Hooper and Robert Shaw’s Quint come across as actual people. Quint disappears from the movie for quite a lengthy period of time before reemerging for the final third and nearly walks away with the film. His monologue near the end about being on the Indianapolis when it went down is a brilliant piece of acting. Spielberg wisely doesn’t get in the way of his actors. He lets them breathe, and the action beats are that much more exciting. We care who lives and dies. This isn’t “The Final Destination” where we’re there specifically to see everyone get slaughtered.
And that’s what movies two and three lose sight of.
“JAWS 2″
I hadn’t seen “Jaws 2″ in something like eight years. I remembered virtually nothing about it. It’s as though a part of my brain said, “Do You Wish to Save? Yes/No?” and another part said, “No.” Therefore, all my memories of the film had been discarded. Natural Lite may have also played a role in my cinematic amnesia. At any rate, I went into “Jaws 2″ cold. I vaguely recalled something about the shark looking like Two-Face; but he didn’t use a coin to determine whether or not he would eat a swimmer. And I sort of remembered a power line being used for the shark’s comeuppance. Beyond that, the film was a blank.
“Jaws 2″ is about as good as a movie called “Jaws 2″ can be. It’s not bad, but painfully mediocre. I’d rank it among “Psycho 2″ as far as ballsy sequels go. You know it’s not going to hit the mark. Yet the the film does its best under the circumstances. Only Roy Scheider returned for the picture. We’re told that Hooper’s in Antarctica, giving you some idea of how far Richard Dreyfuss wanted to distance himself from a follow-up. Quint died in the first film, and apparently the writers decided against creating some sort of half-assed Quint-like surrogate.
As a result, we’ve hit up the main problem with “Jaws 2:” the characters literally aren’t there. Brody’s on his own, and something feels missing. It’s interesting to watch him become more and more unhinged as he’s convinced there’s another Great White lurking in the water. However, even when he gets his sheriff’s badge yanked by the city council, it doesn’t slow him down all that much. He still hijacks a police boat and sets off to rescue a group of dumb teenagers at the climax.
Still, there are some cool moments in the film, like when a woman on a boat tries to frighten off the shark by dousing herself with gasoline for no discernable reason. This of course results in an explosion that could probably be seen from outer space as well as the shark’s hideously scarred visage. “Jaws 2″ gets point for at least trying.
“JAWS 3D”
Originally, this film was supposed to be a John Hughes-scripted spoof called “Jaws 3, People 0.” I am not making this up. Universal wanted to make a “Jaws” film in the mold of “Airplane!” But, they ultimately decided on doing an unintentional parody in the form of “Jaws 3D.”
The print that was screened at the Aero last night was in 2D. I don’t think I missed much by not seeing it in an added dimension. The effects shots all had matte lines that looked like they’d been drawn in with a black magic marker the size of a toilet paper tube. I’ve never seen a major studio film with SFX that were executed so poorly. And worse, the camera lingers on them for aeons. When the shark eats a grouper fish in the opening moments, and the fish’s severed head floats in the water for approximately the same amount of time I experienced puberty.
Spielberg wisely cut around dodgy special effects in the first film. In “Jaws 3D,” the editing fetishizes them.
No one from the previous two films returned for movie three. Brody’s son Michael (Dennis Quaid) is now the hero. He works at Sea World with his girlfriend Kathryn (Bess Armstrong). Michael’s landlubber of a brother, Sean (John Putch), comes to visit while on break from college and so does a hungry, 35-foot Great White.
Setting a “Jaws” film at Sea World seems like a fantastic idea. I mean, I was hoping to see the shark swim into the middle of one of their shows, leap out of the water and eat one of the trainers in front of thousands of tourists. Sadly, the setting is criminally underused. The shark doesn’t even munch on a dolphin or two. At least in the previous film, the shark takes a couple bites out of an orca.
We do get to see Lea Thompson in a bikini, so the film’s not a total bust.
“Jaws: The Revenge,” the rightfully malinged fourth film in the series, was not part of the program, and we are all better for it. If any movie makes “Jaws 3D” look half-decent, it’s “Jaws: The Revenge.” Regardless of the quality of the second and third features, I had a great time at the screening last night. I noticed the audience shrank between the first and second films then again between the second and third. Three movies is, admittedly, a lot to sit through. We got out of there around 2 a.m. I guess the ones who bailed early still had homework to do.
-Brad Lohan
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