When an insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island, the police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the blood-thirsty beast.
A near Hitchcockian exercise in transference of guilt and making the audience pay for its illicit pleasures.
– J. Hoberman,
Village Voice,
29 Jul 2013
fresh:
What this movie is about, and where it succeeds best, is the primordial level of fear.
– Gene Siskel,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Jul 2013
rotten:
It is a coarse-grained and exploitive work which depends on excess for its impact. Ashore it is a bore, awkwardly staged and lumpily written.
– Charles Champlin,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Jul 2013
fresh:
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.
– Judith Crist,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
29 Jul 2013
fresh:
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.