chuckkahn

I don’t know if this has been noted elsewhere, but here are two things that bump for me:

➤ 01:00:20 – Helicopter flyby during swimmer panic (shark false alarm)
As the camera remains offshore with panicking swimmers and a woman holding a child in her arms while screaming, an Enstrom F-28 helicopter flies overhead in the background. In the original mono mix, the helicopter’s engine roar climbs in volume as it enters frame, amplifying the chaos. In the 2020 Atmos remix, the helicopter is much less present — part of a broader trend of downmixed or muted FX compared to the mono original.

➤ 01:02:19 – Transition from shark POV to Brody running toward the pond
In the original mono mix, John Williams precisely times a musical shift: we cut from low, menacing strings (underscoring the shark approaching Michael) to an abrupt surge of upper strings at a faster tempo as we cut to Brody running. The cue feels synchronized with his panic — as if matching the rhythm of his racing heartbeat — and lands like a blow to the chest. The mono mix preserves the cohesion and force of this musical transition, placing the string section front and center.

In contrast, the 2020 Atmos mix disperses the score across the soundstage, giving it an echoic, spatialized character that dilutes the cue’s urgency. The strings no longer hit with the same immediacy, and the emotional gearshift that Williams crafted at the cut point loses its visceral impact.