Review of The Shallows (2016) by Christian M — 20 Aug 2016

The Shallows was a film that had me excited ever since I was gripped by the tense teaser trailer for it back in March. I had high expectations going into the film and I was extremely satisfied when I left because The Shallows not only blew my expectations out of the water so to speak but it's managed to raise the bar on how shark movies should be made; it's this generations Jaws.

The first thing that hit me is that this is a damn good looking film! It features sumptuous cinematography and yes that could be attributed to the fact that the film is shot in a gorgeous location but I think it was the filmmakers desire for horror and beauty to go hand in hand. There are moments where horrific imagery are injected into the face of the viewer but the shots are so effective and so enchanting that you'll probably end up as I did and thinking 'that's a horrible yet irresistible shark bite'. It most definitely ranks as one of the years best looking pictures. The music is haunting and powerful, it has what Jaws had and that's a distinctive theme and an imposing one at that. All aspects of the movie are benefited greatly from a terrific performance by Blake Lively; captivating and practical, it was nice to be along for the ride with a character that was USEFUL in a dire situation. The film does a wonderful job at putting you the audience member on the rock with Lively's character, it has a brilliant yet claustrophobic sense to it where you too feel as if you're confined to this one location and you're planning your escape in tandem with lively. There's emotion to be found in the film but it's the kind of emotion that's throw away, unless you're 100% invested in the character of Nancy then I imagine you'll be moved every now and then but if your sole purpose is to be there to see an enormous shark terrorise a woman for an hour half then yes you'll find tension and atmosphere whenever she decides to dip into the water.

All in all The Shallows is a fantastic movie! If I were to sight a gripe with it then it'd be more of a nitpick and that nitpick comes in the form of slow motion - there was an influx at times of unnecessary slow motion; that's it.

The Shallows is the most fun a shark movie has had with itself since Deep Blue Sea and the best crafted and most well developed shark film since Jaws.