MOVIE REVIEW: The Shallows

The Shallows (2016)

Horror, Thriller

Directed By: Jaume Collet-Serra

People love to tell you how Steven Spielberg ruined the ocean for them with his 1975 masterpiece Jaws. His film was so effective that it terrified people from ever swimming in the ocean again, and I believe that. I also believe that Jaume Collet-Serra has effectively just done the same for a whole new generation, though on a much smaller level, with his latest film The Shallows. This flick is not Jaws, but it has the spirit of Spielberg's classic mixed in with some amusing B-movie schlock and at its best it is just as effective in making you not want to step foot in open waters again. 

The film's plot revolves entirely around one character, Blake Lively's Nancy, a young surfer and med school student who has traveled to a secret beach in an attempt to find inner peace during a time of turmoil. The surf is great and life seems to be good for Nancy for the first time in a while, that is until a massive great white shark wanders into their secret surf and sets its sights upon her. After the initial attack leaves her injured and stranded on a rock just 200 feet from shore she must find a way to beat the shark and get to solid land. Blending animal attack and survivalist horror harmoniously The Shallows is never short on tense situations and realistic horrors we all hope to never experience. 

This movie succeeds where it matters, everything involving the shark is an absolute blast to watch. From the first attack down to the finale every time that big bastard shows it's fin you know you are in for something fun. Oh, and I do mean "big bastard", this shark is enormous and is not afraid to use its size to its advantage. They do well not to over-saturate the audience with the shark as well so when it does show itself the movies intensity shoots through the roof. This of course would all be impossible if the creature itself didn't look great, so it's also a huge relief to see the special effects used are done exceedingly well. 

Going into the movie I had some reservations, mainly Blake Lively being pretty much the only person we see performing for the majority of the movie. Going into this I had never seen her give a performance that blew me away in any sense of the phrase, but she disproves me here. She doesn't bring anything extraordinary to the movie but she gives one of her best performances to date and it's more than enough to sell the horror she is going through. A large chunk of this movie relies solely on her acting and she mostly nails it when she needs to. 

What keeps this movie from being truly great, though, is all of the filler stuff around the shark attack, everything to do with her family back home and the reasons for why she is at this particular beach are mostly pointless and could be cut from the film entirely. At a brisk eighty-seven minute runtime I understand the film needed filler but there were better ways to go about it. There is a filler scene about halfway through the film that really took me out of the movie for a minute and slows down the end of the second act quite a bit. Fortunately the finale is a seriously intense and a whole lot of fun so it brings you right back into it fairly quickly. 

For the first forty minutes or so of the movie I was watching my worst nightmare unfold. From the moment she hits the water Jaume Collet-Serra uses clever camera work to keep you constantly on edge. Focusing on the water behind her while she awaits a wave or dipping the camera underwater just for a second, he uses simple tricks like these to keep you waiting at the edge of your seat for the next big scare. When the attack finally comes and we have to watch Nancy deal with the fallout from it this film begins to draw on a completely different kind of fear.

If you have a weak stomach or you already have a fear of sharks and the ocean then this movie will destroy you, and I mean that literally. I am not a fan of the ocean, never really have been, but seeing this movie just reaffirmed my disdain for the sea and ensured I won't be messing around with it or the life living within it anytime soon. Shark attacks seem to be occurring more frequently with each passing year and a movie like this will make you all the more aware of those stats, so if you want a good excuse not to hit the salt water this summer I suggest checking out The Shallows before it's out of theaters. It's the perfect B-movie entertainment for this time of year and clocking in just under an hour and a half this flick never overstays its welcome. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!