There have been a surprisingly large number of shark films since Jaws in 1975. Most of them have been made for TV / straight to DVD dross with the four Sharknado movies being both the most recent and arguably worst examples.
The Shallows, you could argue, is a pretty shallow film, lacking the depth of characterisation and plotting that you can find in Spielberg’s classic. Blake Lively plays Nancy, a young woman facing a crisis in her life and getting away from it all whilst going surfing on a secluded beach in Brazil. When she is surprised by a shark attack, she manages to get to a rock formation but as high tide approaches she knows that those rocks will soon be submerged. The opening half-hour has too many slow motion surfing scenes and loving shots of Nancy’s wet body, but it is never boring as you wait for the inevitable showdown between woman and shark.
Once Nancy starts fighting for survival the pace picks up and it becomes a nice actioner thanks to the reliable director Jaume Collet-Serra, here providing his best film without Liam Neeson starring. There are some genuinely tense parts and one stunning moment when Nancy swims with glowing jellyfish. The weaknesses mostly come from some clumsy and obvious moments in the script.
As soon as Nancy starts talking wistfully about her Mum’s beach, you know her Mum must have died, probably of cancer, and sure enough you soon see her looking at the photos of her initially healthy and then bald Mum. The fact Nancy had dropped out of medical school is clumsily inserted into the script, and yes, those medical skills prove vital when she is injured.
Writing this I seem to be more critical about the film than I felt watching it – and I haven’t even mentioned the laughable ending – but at the time it raced along thanks to Serra’s skilful direction and a decent performance by Lively.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Top 5 shark movies:
1. Jaws
2. Jaws 2
3. Deep Blue Sea
4. The Shallows
5. Jaws 3