The Shallows Review

7 out of 10

Cast:

Blake Lively as Nancy

Óscar Jaenada as Carlos

Brett Cullen as Father

Sedona Legge as Chloe

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

The Shallows Review:

In the sub-genre of shark-infested horror movies, Jaws will always reign supreme, but there is still a lot of fun and scares to be milked from the premise. The Shallows is one of the more successful ones, and that is primarily due to the performance of Blake Lively, and secondly due to the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra, who knows when to keep the film restrained and when to let loose and skirt the ridiculous. Collet-Serra’s done this kind of thing before; his films tend to have strong performances that almost seem undermined by how silly his movies can get. This time, he doesn’t subvert Lively’s strong work here, and the result is a film that is for the most part quite thrilling for its premise and its runtime.

The Shallows never crosses the 90-minute mark, but Collet-Serra fills those minutes well, building the tension before giving the audience the scares. But he wisely keeps us focused on Blake Lively’s Nancy, a medical student who, after suffering the loss of her mother, decides to take a vacation by herself in Mexico. She’s looking for a particular beach that her mother visited while she was pregnant with Nancy, and when she finds it, it’s a slice of paradise and gives Nancy the piece of closure with her mother that Nancy needs. But the beauty is deceiving, and Nancy finds herself contending with the weather, the tides, and a monstrous great white shark that has staked out the area. With only her wits and the very few tools she has at her disposal, Nancy must survive as long as possible for help that may never come.

Lively’s acting is nuanced and subtle, considering that she’s alone for the majority of the movie save for a seagull that has to give one of the best bird performances in memory (probably several birds, but “Steven Seagull” as Lively calls it becomes a real character in the story). Nancy’s grief for her mother becomes a motivator for her to survive, and her love for her family helps provide that impetus. We root for her to survive, and while much of The Shallows seems plausible, as events proceed Collet-Serra keeps stacking the deck against her. Eventually reality gives way to fantasy – the shark starts behaving less like an animal and more like a serial killer – but Blake Lively carries all of this extra weight with skill and aplomb. In a role that on paper seems thankless, Lively gives us a fully-lived life in the space of these 85 minutes and she makes it easy for the audience to connect with her. Without Lively’s abilities in that regard, The Shallows wouldn’t work nearly as well as it does.

The cinematography by Flavio Martínez Labiano is gorgeous, with rich colors and hues. Eventually The Shallows gives way to a more CGI setting because of where the movie needs to go, but Labiano gives everything a real visual kick. The Go-Pro shots are especially effective, as one character meets his fate underwater, and the underwater photography is also quite lovely. The script by Anthony Jaswinski keeps the film focused on Lively’s character, even as the film slowly becomes more implausible. That’s where Colet-Serra seems to undercut Lively’s work, but this is a summer movie, after all, and we need to keep the thrills coming. There are moments in The Shallows that are genuinely scary, and the jump cuts are, at least, not wasted moments. The shark is a terrifying creature in this movie, and one particular shot, as the shark hunts Nancy through a cresting wave, is remarkably effective.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point something out that would read as nitpicking by others, but since I grew up here in Houston, I feel like it needs to be addressed. There is a brief coda that made the entire theater laugh; not to spoil, but Lively’s character lives in Galveston, Texas (the fact that Nancy supposedly learned to surf off the beaches in Galveston is a whole other plothole), and it becomes apparent very quickly that the filmmakers haven’t actually been there. People who have no idea what Galveston is like will not appreciate the humor in shooting the beaches there with crystal-clear blue water and pristine sandy dunes. If this was actually shot in Galveston, this must be the one beach that they found that didn’t have dirty brown water and beaches without a hint of garbage on them. For anyone who grew up along the eastern Texas coastline, this moment will take you right out of the movie. I suppose it’s no different than when filmmakers shoot in Vancouver and claim that it’s New York City. The Shallows will play very well for other parts of the country, but in Texas, expect to hear some snickering.

No matter. For much of The Shallows‘ running time, it’s effective, entertaining, and scary. The movie is short, but there isn’t a wasted moment in its 85 minutes. This was surprisingly fun, emotional, and thrilling.