REVIEW: The Shallows

Thefanboyseo.com reviews the film The Shallows starring Blake Lively, the ocean and a vicious great white shark. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Opens August 10 from Columbia Pictures Philippines.

Synopsis:

Nancy Adams (Lively) is surfing on a secluded beach when she finds herself in the feeding ground of a great white shark. Though she is stranded only two hundred yards from shore, survival proves to be the ultimate test of wills, requiring all of Nancy’s ingenuity, resourcefulness, and fortitude.

Trailer:

Remember how great movies like Castaway blows your mind because there’s only character to follow and you get to see that character go through trials and tribulations just to make it out of the film in one piece. Well Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows is in that same vein, plays with some tropes, sells us the GoPro hero and gives us a well-done film.

Blake Lively here is the star of the show figuratively and literally. She elevates the piece from “just another shark movie” to a movie that makes you afraid of going into the water. Would you believe that the former “Gossip Girl” star took the project as a challenge because her husband, Ryan Reynolds did a similar “survival” movie a few years back called “Buried”.

The makeup on her in her various states of distress is also worth noting. They’ve done a terrific job of making one of Hollywood’s underrated actresses really look like she’s about to give up on her situation. However, the acting here tends to falter from time to time.

The best thing about the film isn’t the shark or Mrs. Deadpool. It has to be the seagull, Steven Seagull. I was fucking scared for that bird dammit. Especially those moments the shark tried to bite the heck out our dear ol’ Nancy. So imagine my relief when the bird survives. Thank you production studio.

So anyway, I have a lot of good things to write about The Shallows. As a whole, the movie is engaging to the point where it makes you hang to the edge of your seat because you really don’t want Nancy to suffer anymore. Its got that heart-tug there.

I liked how the movie goes from tension-filled moment to the next without skipping a beat and then actually realizes that they need to take a break.

So is this going to be another ‘Jaws’ clone meets ‘Castaway’?

No.

But was it good?

For the Pinoy taste, that non-film school attendee, it could be yes.

The Shallows isn’t cerebral. It won’t get to your brain but those minutes where the shark makes an appearance, tries to eat people up, you reach those high notes of suspense. Then we have to deal the more mundane aspect. Look I’m not asking for big moments but could they please come up with a more believable way to be locked in mortal combat with one of the world’s deadliest predators?

That’s right, I wasn’t a fan of how the ending. It was too… campy? At least in Jaws, they managed to put in one of the best lines ever in cinema history.

But I will definitely vouch for this movie. It was still a good popcorn muncher, Blake Lively is still a hottie even if Deadpool put a ring on it and because that bloody shark is awesome.

VERDICT: 8/10