Review of The Shallows (2016) by Jack F — 10 Mar 2017

Ever since "Jaws" devoured box office records back in 1975, audiences have been drawn to tales depicting mankind's struggle with sharks, the dangerous, fascinating forces of nature. What made "Jaws" so terrifying was that it was steeped in everyday realism. Now, modern-day science and sensibilities have long since debunked much of the shark tale as rather unrealistic, but that doesn't make Spielberg's masterpiece any less powerful.

Since that film, shark movies have run the gamut from plausible and down-to-earth ("Open Water") to straight-up bonkers ("Deep Blue Sea"); there have been good and bad films on either side of the spectrum, but one thing is for certain: shark movies are still very much a thing. (There are four "Sharknado" films, and a fifth one is coming. So yeah, there's that.).

Jaume Collet-Serra's "The Shallows" is a film that oscillates between realism and pure fantasy, but it's always entertaining, and that's really the most important thing. It's pure and simple, telling the story of a surfer (Blake Lively) that is attacked by a great white shark and then stranded on a large rock formation, no more than a few hundred yards from shore. She can't enter the water because the predator is omnipresent, just waiting for an opportunity to finish what it started, and chances of rescue are slim as this is a convenient "secret" beach that few people are aware of.

There's something unsettling about this type of storyline, also utilized in varying degrees in films like the aforementioned "Open Water," "The Blair Witch Project," and Adam Green's "Frozen" (not to be confused with the 2012 Disney animated smash). There's something about being forgotten or abandoned that's very primitive, very primal, and the most successful of these films know how to exploit this feeling. Collet-Serra does a good job of building a feeling of mounting dread and uncertainty, and the audience feels for Lively's predicament. That is NOT a very big rock she's marooned on, and the rising tide is always a problem lurking in the background...

Now I'm no shark expert, but I'm not so certain the fish behaves in a very realistic manner, literally remaining in the same spot for days on end. But then again, we are talking about a wild animal here, and you can never say with ironclad certainty exactly what an apex predator like this would do in such a situation. And as far as a man-vs.-nature thriller flick goes, "The Shallows" delivers.

But this is all provided on how far you're willing to suspend your disbelief because the climax pushes absurdity to whole new levels. But I maintain that if you had been with the film for that long, the craziness at the end shouldn't be a deal-breaker. And hey, it IS satisfying and sometimes that's what you gotta go for. Remember, the ending of "Jaws" involving the gun and the scuba tank was nonsense too, but damn it if it didn't work like gangbusters. This film doesn't pack quite the same punch-although, to be fair, we're talking about two very different films-but it works on its own terms.

Additionally, it helps that Lively does a good job essentially carrying the film. This is approaching Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" or James Franco in "127 Hours" territory, and she's on screen the entire time. If her performance doesn't work, then neither does the movie, but thankfully she's always credible. She even gets a "Wilson" of her own in a wounded seagull that is also stuck on the same rock.

While "The Shallows" is not going to be eclipsing "Jaws" as the go-to shark movie for thrill-seekers, it's still an effective suspense tale that delivers what it promises. And despite its implausibilities, it's still a convincing enough argument to stay out of the water...