The shark thriller; a film genre that constantly tries and fails and in the age of film where technology thrives and writers are more creative than ever, we have another failure in The Shallows.
Nancy Adams (Blake Lively), a surfer, gets stranded two hundred yards from shore and must use her wits and determination to survive a great white shark attack.
The Shallows is just another shark thriller that disappoints. The directing is average, the acting is underwhelming and the effects are pitiful enough to make the shark in Jaws look real. Going into this movie, I had low expectations, low enough for me to enjoy the movie to an extent. The only problem is, every time the film picked up a rhythm and started to be enjoyable, it would go in a direction that was both unrealistic and unnecessary. Every realistic circumstance would be met with an unrealistic one such as the protagonist swimming through a jellyfish field to avoid the shark.
These story points are not the only issues with the film, but the character development is also a big flaw as the character’s growth is completely forced and clichéd. You can tell that everything Nancy is running away from will be what she becomes at the end of this life-changing experience which coincidently is the exact thing that was foreshadowed by her family at the beginning of the story.
The Shallows brings nothing new to the table. It is the story of a girl who is trying to find herself and is able to do so after facing an unlikely shark. It is a beat-for-beat story that tries to force character depth that the audience is able to read from a mile away. The antagonist not only looks fake, but does things that aren’t understandable for an animal (stalking a girl for two days).
Although the film does have its entertaining moments, it is not a good movie. It is filled with random camera angles and editing decisions that don’t make sense and make the viewer dizzy. Audiences will be able to predict the ending in the first thirty minutes and will ask how and why a shark is able to do the things it does. However, if you would like to turn off your brain for eighty-six minutes, this is a good time as you will get the shark attack fix that you’ve been craving since the last Sharknado graced your screen.
Fun Fact:
The movie was shot in part off the Gold Coast of Australia. Other filming commenced in a giant swimming pool.
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