Review of The Shallows (2016) by Reney W — 26 Sep 2017

Sure, The Shallows is not a perfect film, but it is summer entertainment at its most minimalist and thrilling.

The bad.

The family interaction borders on Hollywood schmaltz.

Superimposing Blake's face on to a body double is ridiculous - we know it's not her, we don't care; don't do close-ups.

Some of the stunts are beyond ridiculous, but we don't watch these films for realism, do we?

Some of the editing was a bit bizarre - at times it felt like I blinked too long and missed a few scenes. Especially the end scene comes hurtling towards you at breakneck speed. I was anxiously awaiting more adventure, just to find myself staring at the dead shark! (No, it is not a spoiler.).

The good.

Blake Lively is engaging, the film is beautifully filmed, Nancy's ingenuity is quite cool and, damn, it is a blockbuster starring a woman (and no one else, for that matter).

The best thing about this film, though, is the suspense. You really sit on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Jaume Collet-Serra uses the fact that his viewers know it is a shark movie. The more beautiful and idyllic the first epic waves are, the more you sit and worry about what is to come.

He utilises sound to build up tension. In the first surfing scene he cuts quickly between the surfers catching waves and a pumping summer anthem and the subdued underwater sound of the ocean.

Apart from good old-fashioned scare tactics (the shark jumping out at Nancy, the bullets falling into the water, etc), Collet-Serra also scares you by not showing you what the shark is doing, for example to the whale carcass, to a hapless drunk ocean reveller, or in the dark of night.

It is a thrill ride. Period.