The Shallows – Movie Review

Not since ‘Jaws’ have we had a good shark attack movie that brings fear to the idea of swimming or surfing in the ocean and not because I want to see a person attacked or mauled by a shark, but the suspense factor and how movies like this play with your mind. If you think back at how many times we actually saw the shark ‘Jaws’ before the ending of the movie, not that much. The story was driven by the attacks, the sightings and the thought of having it attack you. ‘The Shallows’ managed to bring that back, but not quite to the extent of what ‘Jaws’ did. ‘The Shallows’ stars Blake Lively and we have seen her in movies like ‘Green Lantern’, ‘Age of Adalin’e and most recognizable for her show ‘Gossip Girl’. The movie is set at the beach where Nancy goes to find the location her mother, who has passed away, used to go and surf when she was younger. She would tell her kids stories about this location and described it as this great peaceful place. Nancy (Blake Lively) feels like going there and living out the stories in memory of her mom. The beach is located in a very remote area and hitches a ride to it by someone familiar with the area, she was supposed to go with a friend of hers, but those plans were squashed when her friend decided to drink all night and not able to get up in the morning, so the movie set up the opportunity for her to be there alone. Of course.

I am not going to say that the movie has a great setup to the story, but once we get to the beach and Nancy in the water, it doesn’t take long before the movie gets going. Let me back up a little, the movie starts off with a kid finding a Gopro camera on the beach washed ashore, we don’t get to see a lot of what he sees, but shortly after we are introduced to Nancy and her getting in the water. After a quick round of surfing and some food, she has a conversation with her dad and sister on a facetime call, which is the extent of the slow portions of the movie. One of the things that got me off track with this movie was the acting. I am not saying that Blake Lively is a bad actor, she actually has her moments where it works great, but I couldn’t buy into some of the situations and how she handled them on screen. The call with her family just didn’t feel genuine to me and I didn’t buy her being related to them. I know it’s a little thing, but it was in the movie and it felt awkward to me.It doesn’t take long to get into the suspense of the movie and knowing that this is a shark movie I already kept wondering when and where this shark would come. They had some scenes where my mind kept thinking is it coming now, or wait, was that it. I kept looking for it and I liked that part of the set up in the movie, they did a great job keeping you wondering. Then it happens, and we are on, it happens sudden and when you least expect it. So props on the build up and the timing for the attack.When we are introduced to the shark I was a little worried about how it would look and how it was going to be used, they didn’t disappoint there either. They have some good shots of the shark and the way he looked and moved was great, it didn’t seem fake at all. I worried about that because already, as nice as the movie looked, building up to seeing the shark I was worried we would see a cheap CGI shark because the movie felt like an indie film and so I didn’t know what to expect with the look of the shark and that would have ruined it for me. So she get’s stranded on a piece of rock where we will spend a huge portion of the movie with Nancy trying to figure out how to survive.
As you may have guessed and also seen in the trailers she is attacked by the shark and has a huge gash on her leg and aside from dealing with the shark she has to deal with the elements and the wound that is losing blood and getting infected. I liked the realism they brought to the movie and although we don’t get a good look at her wound we do see how big it is and that she is losing blood. Blake was able to pull off the situation and if I were to have a wound like it, I am sure that is how it would feel and her portrayal was great, it made me feel bad for her and can only imagine the pain she felt. The suspenseful parts of the movie were done well and she again delivered some great emotions bringing me in. Where I had a hard time with Blake was when she was delivering lines or interacting with people, it didn’t seem natural to me and that brought me out of it. The movie does drag and it does take place on a piece of rock in the ocean that will eventually be swallowed by the tide and Nancy knows she needs to figure out how to get away from the shark before the tide rises or she is toast.Overall for me ‘The Shallows’ had some great moments and some long moments, like ‘Castaway’ and ‘Gravity’ all over again but on a rock trapped by a shark. I didn’t love the movie, but I liked it because of the moments that made me tense. Blake Lively did fine with her character and very believable with her struggle and injury and her physical pain, it was when she delivered some of her lines that didn’t do it for me, it didn’t feel natural. Her deliveries felt weird, when she yelled out “SHARK”, it just felt like she was trying to hard to yell it out. I still would encourage you to watch it because it is a better movie about this kind of genre out there right now, its not terrible, there were just a few little things that brought me out of it and sure you see things coming before they happen, but that is what I think was done well with this movie, even though you knew, you didn’t know how or when, which was cool.

The ending of the movie was a little abrupt for me, I felt like after all that happened or didn’t happen to have it end the way that it did, felt rushed, almost like “ok we spent enough time in the water, now let’s end the movie”. Go watch ‘The Shallows’, you can wait for Redbox or digital download, it’s not one that needs to be seen in a movie theater, but it will be a fun movie to watch if you want to stay in and have a relaxing night home. You will have fun with it.