back to article Jaws restored Blu-ray disc set review

Jaws is back, and the old shark’s gnashers are looking sharper than ever thanks to a painstaking remastering job by Universal’s backroom boffins. The title is being released as part of the studio’s centenary classics program for Blu-ray, which also includes E.T The Extra Terrestrial, The Birds and Frankenstein. The timing couldn …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Great that it can be done, but on this film?

    Is there anyone who will rush out and buy it, just to see the rubber shark at the end of the film?

    1. teacake

      @AC 07:08

      "Is there anyone who will rush out and buy it, just to see the rubber shark at the end of the film?"

      Dunno. If your appreciation of a film is based solely on the quality of the effects, I've got this copy of Transformers over here you can have.

      1. FartingHippo
        Alert

        Phew!

        I'm very, very relieved they didn't pull a Lucas and replace the shark with a CGI monstrosity.

        Smile you son of a b*tch! ... ... BOOOOM!!

        1. TheRealRoland
          Thumb Up

          Re: Phew!

          And, even better, no Jar-Jar Binks!

          Misa-shoulda-takah-bigger-bombastic-boat!

        2. Bod

          Re: Phew!

          "I'm very, very relieved they didn't pull a Lucas and replace the shark with a CGI monstrosity."

          Or do a Spielberg and replace the shark with a nice friendly dolphin that won't scare the kiddies.

      2. NogginTheNog
        Thumb Down

        Re: @AC 07:08

        Exactly: the shark ISN'T the story, it's the journey Brody takes, and the people he meets on the way, that make this a brilliant classic film.

  2. toadwarrior
    Thumb Up

    I bought this over the weekend. I was hung over and just wanted a film otherwise I would have waited until it was cheaper.

    But it certainly looks nice and was still fun to watch so I think they did a good job. It's certainly better than Jurassic park's blu-ray release which is kind of ugly, imo.

  3. Haku
    FAIL

    Stills and photographs bonus extras

    Why do the disc authorers so often have to put original artwork, stills & photographs in fake frames with borders round the edge - do they really think we don't want to see the detail in the pictures by shrinking them smaller to cater for the crappy 'artistic' border?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Stills and photographs bonus extras

      Bit like instagram then...

  4. jake Silver badge

    Whatever.

    It's still one of a largish handful of films I've walked out on.

    1. Mike Bell

      Re: Whatever.

      Let me guess... Piranha 3DD is more your cup of tea?

      1. jake Silver badge

        @Mike Bell (was: Re: Whatever.)

        No, Mike. Crap fish tales are crap fish tales. I grew up commercial fishing out of Noyo Harbor on the California coast. I've met Great Whites in the wild. They bear absolutely zero resemblance to the critter portrayed in the film. The actors trying to look like fisher-folks are even more of a laugh; not a one of 'em shows any sign of on-the-water working boat experience. It's a sad best-guess, at best. And it fails. Miserably.

        As a side-note, "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!" and "Humanoids From The Deep" don't exactly portray the local Noyo population in their best light ... But I'm still getting residuals for my bit-parts ;-)

        1. Sir Runcible Spoon

          Re: @Mike Bell (was: Whatever.)

          I felt the same way about Swordfish and the 'This is Unix - I know this' bit in Jurassic park, but I try not to let it spoil the movie completely.

          Then again I have a huge tolerance for shit films. I still watch Bad Taste every 10 years or so :)

          1. Dave 126

            UNIX in film, part two.

            Waynes World 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjjydz40rNI Check out Garth's Video Toaster T-shirt!

            "That's a UNIX book."

            "Yeah."

            "Cool."

        2. Chris 3

          Re: @Mike Bell (was: Whatever.)

          Quint, is that you?

    2. John 104

      Re: Whatever.

      Only because you were scared....

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Maybe

    If and when I get blu-ray I might go for it. The crappy shark aside, I thought it was a very good film - first half developing the characters and the second half getting them eaten.

  6. Andy Farley
    Thumb Up

    I saw this when I was a kid.

    I wouldn't put my feet to the bottom of the bed in case there was a shark there.

    The shark looking crap was the making of this film. Much more tense without seeing it.

  7. TheNix
    IT Angle

    ...erm?

    I thought this was El Reg, not Den of Geek.

    1. ukgnome

      Re: ...erm?

      yeah, but vultures feed off sharks or summink

      1. Dave 126

        Re: ...erm?

        Here's your IT angle:

        http://www.dennis.co.uk/about-us/dennis-worldwide

        After winning an appeal to verdict of the infamous Oz obscenity trial, Felix Dennis published some magazines including 'Jaws'- the still images of the film had not been copyrighted. He then created Mac User and in the States Mac Warehouse, a hardware and software mail order retailer.

    2. Toxteth O'Gravy
      WTF?

      Re: ...erm?

      Presumably you think techies don't watch movies on their computers, tablets, tellies and such?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That's some bad hat...

    Harry.

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I saw the 4k version at the cinema over the summer

    and it is truly stunning (my own personal bugbears with some of the lighting aside): even with half the pixels, the restoration renders any other copy you have utterly outdated.

  11. b166er

    Love the scene of this film where Dreyfuss, Shaw and Schneider are drinking in the Orca's cabin and sharing scar stories. 'Show me the way to go home....'

    Dya falla?

    @FartingHippo, you mean the one where the shark has been installed with a LASER?

  12. Annihilator
    Headmaster

    "Few would argue that the film deserves its legendary status."

    Can't tell if you've phrased this badly or are saying it doesn't deserve legendary status? I'd be ony of many to argue that the film deserves its legendary status.

    1. Dave 126

      You wouldn't have to argue very hard.... "Daah dah, daah dah, dahdahdahdah, dahdahdahdah, dun de DAAH!" would do it.

      John Williams... composed the soundtracks to my childhood!

  13. Mike Brown

    scareist bit

    is the bit on the sunken boat. no shark to be seen!

    awesome film. the charecter development is almost 2nd to none.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "You're gonna need a bigger boat"

    Still one of my favourite movie quotes!

  15. This post has been deleted by its author

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Find it hard to forgive my mother

    I was 8 years old when she dragged me to see this. Scarred me for the rest of my life. I'm still scared to put my feet all the way down to the end of the bed. And don't get me started on swimming.

  17. John 104

    Excellent

    Me and my fishing buddy watch this film every spring, ahead of Salmon season. Last year we watched it on his boat, at dusk, with my 12 year old in tow. It was epic.

    Try this for funL

    Every time they say water, take a drink.

    Every time they say shark, take a drink.

    But don't do them both in the same viewing!

  18. Bod

    Restoration

    Hmm, I don't remember the terrible quality "before" frames on my DVD or even when I had it on VHS or the numerous times it's been on TV.

    1. Jolyon Smith
      Boffin

      Re: Restoration

      I am guessing those "before" frames are taken from the 35mm print in the vaults which have presumably deteriorated quite badly since they were last taken out to master the VHS/LD/DVD releases.

      Quite possibly, given that broadcast sources were already higher definition than broadcast *reception*, the VHS, LD and DVD masters were all taken from a broadcast source master, way back in the 70's or early 80's, explaining the dramatic deterioration in the archived print since it's previous home-video format release. i.e. not 5-10 years worth of deterioration but 20-30 years.

      </speculation>

  19. bert Plucker

    im a bit tired

    digitally restored from an old VHS cassette or something. Cant wait.

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