Review of The Shallows (2016) by Horcrux2007 — 25 Jun 2016
It's been a pretty dismal summer movie season with more unwanted sequels than one could imagine (who really wanted Now You See Me 2?), so it's a bit of a breath of fresh air when a fun and simple shark thriller rolls into theaters, and a surprisingly decent one at that.
The Shallows is about Nancy, played by Blake Lively, a med school student and recreational surfer who travels to a secluded beach in Mexico where her late mother once surfed when she was a baby. Her alone time is ruined when she gets too far from the shore and a shark attacks her, forcing her to take refuge on a rock.
Stranded two hundred yards from the shore, Nancy has to outwit the shark and try to get back to her dad and sister before becoming shark bait. In a year filled with pretentious sequels coming 15 years too late, watching a good old-fashioned non-pretentious thriller will come to a relief to many.
It never takes itself too seriously, although never venturing into camp territory, and it stays suspenseful for its brief 87 minute running time. There's even a little bit of good gore thrown in there too.
The Shallows is more of a survival thriller than Blake Lively vs. The Shark, so it's more suspenseful than brutal and intense. Luckily, Blake Lively gives a great performance as Nancy, a resourceful and insanely likable heroine.
She's the only face on screen for about 80 minutes of the film, so it's good that she made her presence likable. The Shallows is a pure popcorn thriller: suspenseful, taut and fun.
This review of The Shallows (2016) was written by Horcrux2007 on 25 Jun 2016.
The Shallows has generally received positive reviews.
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