Review of The Shallows (2016) by Connor K — 29 Dec 2016

The Shallows is a well-executed, emotionally resonant shark thriller: a breed of cinema that becomes more and more elusive as time goes by.

Blake Lively shines (no surprise there) in her role as Nancy, a discerning medical student who dearly misses her late mother and has a rather distant and strained relationship with her young sister and father. A kind local man takes her to a beautiful but secluded beach to surf as a form of escapism from her grievance. More emotional heft is born once it is revealed that this particular beach is where Nancy's mother came upon the discovery of her pregnancy with the aforementioned.

This particular segment of the film is rather slow, but nonetheless viscerally effective with some top shelf camera work. The shore, water, and mountains are lushly portrayed and the brief but powerful surfing moments are seamlessly filmed. Nancy meets two local men who share her love for surfing. She creates a minor bond with them, but not long after, Nancy takes a break before going out to surf one last time, and she is ambushed by a great white shark of massive size and strength, badly injuring her leg and being forced to take refuge on a small rock that is affected by the fluctuating levels of the beach's tide and is a great distance from shore.

From this pivotal scene forward, there a few moments that will make you cringe with shock. For example, the shark makes a full-body appearance on the second day of Nancy being stranded, bursting out of the water and immediately killing one of the locals before catching up with the other and dragging him underwater, never to be seen again. A sluggish, drunk man passed out on the beach is told by Nancy to retrieve her cell phone and contact help, but the distraught fellow proceeds to steal her belongings and wanders out into the water to retrieve her mangled surf board, only to be savagely bisected by the shark.

After some quick thinking, narrow escapes, and a flare gun showdown on a buoy (arguably the most intense sequence of the film), Nancy manages to get the shark to impale itself when it chases her to the bottom of the water and runs into some metal rods. In the predicament, Nancy runs out of breath and passes out, but she is revived by the local and recovers from the experience before returning to surfing with her sister, where their father warmly agrees that their mom would have been proud.

And so, with it's bold cinematography and visuals, and most importantly, the stunning performance of Blake Lively, The Shallows ultimately succeeds as a superb horror/thriller.