The Shallows Review

The Shallows

 Shark (fake quote): "Hi. My name's Rodney. I want you in my belly."

Nancy (real quote): "Shaaaarrrk!!!"

      The Shallows is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Non-Stop, Orphan) and stars Blake Lively as Nancy, Oscar Jaenada as Carlos, and an angry, big ass, CGI shark.

Ha! Never going back into the ocean again.

 

      Nancy just went through a traumatic event, the event being her mother's death, that made her realize that life is too short and she should just go for it. She goes to a secluded beach, somewhere in a Spanish speaking country, where her mother used to surf. Nancy had only heard stories of her mother being very happy here. Nancy, also a surfer, heads out to surf on a bright and sunny day...but then a humongous great white shark feels threatened of Nancy being in the shark's feeding territory. It then attacks her and she swims to a small rocky island only big enough to fit her and another human the size of her. Relying on her background training as a medical student, Nancy does the only two things she can do: trying to contact others for help and survive. Danny Boyle presents 127 Hours: The Nautical Chronicles (by the way I just made that up, but it sounds like something James Franco would be willing to do, wouldn't it?).

James Franco: Do you even lift, bro?

Shark: Nah. I eat constantly, bro.

 

      Great for Blake Lively; trying to take on a film that focuses on one character in a survival situation. While, Blake Lively is the star of The Shallows, and did a good job as her character, I couldn't really get onto an emotional connection for her actual character. The reason being that she is very sexualized. I'm going into some territory here where I think different kinds of sharks would eat me up, but for a film that does focus on a survival situation, there are way too many slow motion scenes that hint at Nancy's bodily features. It is almost jarring how many moments there are in The Shallows that include Blake Lively moving her body in such a way that it makes preteens turn into teenagers within a blink of an eye. I can also understand the takeaway message that a woman can be sexy and strong as hell, but seriously, just count how many slow motion scenes there are and it seems like just a straight up slap in the face to wake you up. The lack of emotions really only happened to me. It could affect you too, but it's not something that I want to generalize. Unfortunately, The Shallows, for the first thirty minutes looks almost like a well produced music video with out of place music that takes you out of the buildup of seeing a giant shark. These two problems really are mostly present during the beginning scenes of the film. That's a good thing considering that when the shark is seen swimming around and hunting for Blake Lively's character, it's pretty damn entertaining for the most part.

Even bloodied up, Blake Lively is still bad ass and attractive!

 

      In comes the great white shark with hunger so powerful, it literally eats three adult sized humans in a little less than a day. Like it should be, the majority of The Shallows is Nancy on a small rock island figuring out how to get help and how to heal her deep wounds. I really enjoyed these scenes because, in retrospect, it could teach people a little bit more on how to keep calm and survive a horrid accident. It's not by any means a medical how-to video, but it gives a person an idea of how to stay alive. In this case, Nancy is really a lucky person to have the background of being a medical student, but without the actual supplies and tools she would have in a hospital setting, all she has is her clothing she used when surfing, part of her surfboard, and her jewelry. She basically is an average Joe in an extreme environment. That type of character is always a plus for me because I can't get invested in a survival movie if a person is given everything. I understand that the medical background is given to this character, but I think the procedures that Nancy does on herself isn't a huge step off of what a person outside of the medical field should know. I'm sorry if you don't agree, but keeping the blood flow in your leg without actually cutting circulation off is something you should know in case of an emergency. In any case, Nancy is a relatable character, in that you can understand what her human goal is and how to accomplish it, but emotions come second and I feel she just doesn't have the chops for that, at least for the first 30 minutes.

I'd rather not put up a bloody image, but rather I'll just put a cute picture of a kitten and puppy instead. Aww!!

      I would honestly consider the shark as a main character in The Shallows, even though it's only a CGI fish with teeth the size of your index finger. Applause to the special effects team who made this shark look really good and scary as hell. I can only suspect that fear of open water is a common one,  but even if it's not, I think The Shallows worsened my fear. This isn't even in open water! It's like a couple hundred meters off of shore! So close, yet so far away from being safe from a shark. The Shallows is first and foremost a horror/thriller and I completely got what I went in for. I just can't help but think that this movie is in a sphere or bubble of some sort: the inside has potential and a scary premise, but the outer substance holding it in is not attractive looking, in terms of execution.

To see this coming at you, is to automatically die without even being touched from the shark.

 

      The Shallows did its job by scaring the crap out of me, but even if I was scared, I still have to analyze the surrounding scares. The choices for tone are never cohesive enough to where you can enjoy the entire movie. At first, The Shallows feels like an expensive early 00's music video and then as the shark appeared, the tone got more interesting, then by the end, it kind of actually falls apart on how the resolution is portrayed. Shark are so much smarter! On the other hand, Blake Lively did as much with her character as she could and I commend her for that. Plus actually bled for the movie: when she hits an object with her face, her nose bleeds and it makes it to the final cut. Anyways, I was entertained by the movie as a whole, but you can definitely just catch it on a streaming service or Blu-ray with a bunch of friends.

3.2/5

PRO

• Fear of the shark hits well with the thriller/horror element of the movie
• Survivor scenes of the movie are well executed
• Blake Lively does well with her character

CON

• Too many slow motion shots!
• Odd choices for tone throughout the movie

The Shallows is rated PG-13 for bloody images, intense sequences of peril, and brief strong language

Click here to watch trailer

The Shallows is in theaters everywhere now

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