Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer: Anthony Jaswinski (Screenplay)
Starring: Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge
Plot: A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Tense Shark Attack Movie
Story: The Shallows starts as we follow American tourist Nancy (Lively) who goes out alone for a day of surfing in what is beautiful coastal resort of Mexico. The holiday is for Nancy to recover in her own way over her mother’s death, Nancy is taking a small break from her medical school studies to figure out her own future much to her father’s (Cullen) concern.
Going out for one final wave Nancy finds the corpse of a whale drawing the attention of other sea life including a great white shark which attacks her, leaving a nasty bite mark up her leg. Nancy finds herself stranded close to shore but too far away to make it to safety.
Thoughts on The Shallows
Characters/Performance – Nancy is a tourist giving up time from her studies to experience the world after her mother’s death. She is a surfer at heart and this puts her into the position of needing to fight to survive once she gets attacked by a great white shark, sure it helps that he is studying medicine because she can ease her injuries.
Performance wise, this is one film carried by the solo actress with Blake Lively showing she can lead a survival against a shark by engaging us for the whole film.
Story – The story here is very simple, it is one woman trying to survive after a shark attack with nowhere to swim, it is all simple and effective for the story telling process.
Horror/Thriller – The horror is great because it puts us into a real-life situation of a surfer getting attacked by a shark and we are kept on edge through the whole film.
Settings – The setting is also simple and works for the film, a small isolated location for our leading character who needs to fight for her life.
Special Effects – The effects when it comes to looking at the shark look fantastic and you would be left question if this was even a real or CGI shark throughout.
Final Thoughts –This is a film that shows just how simple you can make a movie making process, you need to create a simple idea of being stranded with a deadly threat that can keep us on edge throughout.
Overall: A Must watch shark attack movie.
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