FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Shallows
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, A Shark
Runtime: 1 hr 26 mins

What It Is: Almost dying to see the beach her mother always spoke of med student and Texan Nancy (Lively) visits an unnamed beach in what can only be perceived as Mexico. As she goes out for a surf she is attacked by a shark (played wonderfully by a Shark) and is left stranded on a small rock bleeding from her injuries. As she tries to outsmart the greatest of aquatic predators we see her stuck between a rock and a very hard place.

What We Think: This is not a very good film. Blake Lively seems really bored to be there and the best actor is my boy the shark. I never really felt much in the way of anxiety or trepidation about Nancy in any way. Even the emotions surrounding her mother that the film wants to pull you into does not really hit. I will give Collet-Serra some credit for filming a beautiful flick. He and cinematographer Flavio Martínez Labiano really make the best out of this script but structure wonderful images around it. With that being said the CGI isn’t great and my main dude the Shark sometimes looks way too fake.

Our Grade: C-, There is some enjoyability to be had here but sadly it gets muddled up in bad CGI and even worse acting. Collet-Serra is better than this as is evident by his previous work like Non-Stop which I enjoyed and Orphan which I had some problems with. I was also really surprised by Run All Night. Blake Lively hasn’t really proved anything even if you couple in her performance in The Age of Adaline there just isn’t anything there that’s ever impressed me. At the end of this, all I really have to say is that this film is now Jaws and I don’t think it ever thought I’d be.