Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Jurᴀssic World Rebirth.

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards addresses one scene’s parallels with a classic Steven Spielberg movie. Many Jurᴀssic World Rebirth reviews have praised the franchise’s latest installment for feeling like a return to the original movie that Spielberg directed.

However, the scene where the human characters are chasing a Mosasaurus in order to acquire a blood sample from it feels more inspired by Spielberg’s 1975 movie Jaws, which grossed $477 million at the worldwide box office and has an enduring legacy.

While speaking with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley, Edwards shared that when reading Rebirth‘s script written by David Koepp, he saw the parallels to Jaws in this scene. Edwards and his creative team then worked to make the scene feel distinct despite some of the inevitable similarities, and were pleased with the ultimate result. Check out his comments below:

I mean, yeah, that’d be a filmmaker’s dream, wouldn’t it? That’s a masterpiece. But it was more like you can’t escape it because it was the idea based on Steven Spielberg’s idea with David, it was in the screenplay. They’re chasing this creature in the water with a boat and a rifle. It’s a fin. I’m reading it going, “This is some other film that you might have heard of called Jaws.” And then it became a game of how to not make it Jaws because it was by default going to be that kind of vibe. You talked about leaning forwards (in your seat). It was funny because we basically didn’t do those big test screenings they do for movies like this because of the fear of some information getting out. So internally in Universal Studios, we flew over and we showed it to the staff that work at Universal, and they all came into this big cinema.

I watched it with Alexandre Desplat who was working on the whole soundtrack. And I don’t know why, I just thought it’d be really good for him to come and just feel the crowd. And it was great because about that moment you’re talking about, he just went like this (and sat up). He was right next to me and he just went like that. And he stayed like that for the entire movie. And I was like, “Oh, this is fantastic.” And as soon as the credits went up, he just turned to me and he went, “I have to go home and start writing.” He had this fire in his belly. And it feels like there’s a certain point in the movie where it feels like a rollercoaster’s safety harness comes down and off you go. And the goal was from here to the end credits. Now it’s just going to have this momentum. That’s one of my favorite parts of the movie is that when that all starts happening.

What This Means For Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

The Mosasaurus Scene Is An Important Point Of No Return

When human characters are hunting a formidable aquatic creature with a boat and a rifle, the sequence is automatically going to be reminiscent of Jaws. Edwards and his creative team are still able to ensure the sequence effective by making it suspenseful and escalating the movie’s momentum.

Before this sequence, the movie is largely setup for introducing and bringing Jurᴀssic World Rebirth‘s characters together for their mission to acquire blood samples from three specific dinosaurs. It isn’t until the Mosasaurus scene that the “rollercoaster’s safety harness comes down” and sets a tense, fast pace that doesn’t relent for the rest of the movie.

Seeing the effect that the scene had on composer Alexandre Desplat, who sat up and stayed that way throughout the rest of the test screening, was a promising sign that the Mosasaurus scene was successful and had done its job. It is a turning point that sets the tone for all the following scenes.

Our Take On Gareth Edwards’ Comments

The Mosasaurus Scene Is One Of The Movie’s Best

While fans may disagree about whether Rebirth captures Steven Spielberg’s original vision, the Mosasaurus scene definitely feels aligned with the scale and emotion of the filmmaker’s past work. It is easily one of the most riveting parts of the movie and where the high stakes begin to feel real for all the characters.

Another element that helps the scene is that the Mosasaurus is not the only dinosaur the humans have to contend with, as it returns with a group of Spinosaurus to attack the ship. The use of multiple dinosaurs attacking from the water makes this Jurᴀssic World Rebirth scene even more thrilling to watch and further distinguishes it from Jaws.