When it comes to horror movies revolving around the concept of sharks, the golden standard for such films is Steven Spielberg's Jaws. While that film didn't show much of the shark throughout the story, it was made memorable due to its slow yet steady buildup of suspense as well as its strong development of the main characters to make the audience connected with the plot. With The Shallows, the filmmakers attempt to deliver a different type of shark story that also proves effective with the main difference being its story revolves around a single character with Blake Lively as the star compared to Jaws where Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss were the main trio. While The Shallows never reaches the cinematic heights of that film as such a demand is a tall order, it succeeds in crafting its own thrilling shark tale with Lively's performance powering the story. Whereas most shark films since Jaws have come across as being poorly executed and cheesy, The Shallows brings the terror back with going into the water.
The plot for The Shallows centers around a young woman surfing alone in a secluded beach. When she becomes wounded by a shark, she ends up being stranded on a rock 200 yards away from land. Being circled by a killer shark, she plots an innovative escape to safety. The plot for The Shallows serves as being one that's creative and feels realistic with its concept being well thought-out and executed. Blake Lively's performance makes the film work as effectively as it does in terms of being intense and frightening for audiences with the filmmakers going back to the basics in regards to crafting a solid story based around suspense regarding the terror of sharks. What The Shallows does so well is take all the old and tired generic tropes of a shark attack film and upgrade them, adding new twists and turns with the end result being a lean and thought-provoking story of survival. Just when audiences thought that no solid shark film could be produced anymore, The Shallows manages to turn the genre on its head while giving another modern shark franchise, 47 Meters Down, a run for its money.
The success as well as the strength of the film, was always going to rely on the actresses chosen for the main role in the story. With Blake Lively, she delivers a powerful performance in portraying a character whom the audience can sympathize with as well as root for her survival. She manages to convey all the right emotions for her role in playing Nancy Adams, a young surfer girl and medical student whose revealed to have dropped out of school due to the passing of her mother. In dealing with the loss, she returns to the same beach that her mother visited when she was pregnant with her. Lively does great in regards to building empathy for her character with the audience seeing the vulnerability that she expresses during her ordeal, as well as both her strength and strong willingness to survive. It's the performance that Lively delivers that becomes the glue in regards to holding the film together, as well as building credibility for the story being as thrilling and effective as it ultimately comes across on the screen. In comparison to other suspenseful films where the main focus of the story revolves around a main character such as Will Smith in I Am Legend or Ryan Reynolds in 2010's Buried, Lively's performance holds up well and does a great deal in regards to making the story work.
As impressive and talented as Blake Lively's performance is, she wouldn't be as convincing as her character comes across without the surprisingly skillful directing of Jaume Collet-Serra at the helm. Serra demonstrates solid craftsmanship in putting together a relentlessly suspenseful and tightly-paced story, that carries with it a steady buildup of suspense. While Juan's directing never reaches the masterful craftsmanship that Spielberg brought to Jaws, the latter makes it obvious that they watched and studied that film in regards to generating a similar style of effect in building both suspense and terror. The gore aspect of the story is handled with the appropriate level of restraint as the film doesn't rely on blood to scare audiences, but delivers disturbing images that add to the tension while building up the imagination of what isn't being shown. One of the films most striking technical elements is its cinematography which comes across as being visually stunning with the scenes being beautifully photographed with many shots being bathed in bright sunlight. In regards to the filmmakers handling of the shark's reveal without it feeling overdone to the point of its impact being lessened, the cinematography supplies the film with a combination of wide shots showing the size of the shark in comparison to Nancy along with tighter ones teasing its presence just past the frame. The films editing consists of quick cuts in addition to keeping the film moving at a nail-biting pace for the duration of its 87 minute running time. The first part of the film consists of setting up Nancy's character as well as the setting of the story with it officially kicking into shark-themed terror after the first 30 minutes. Once the shark strikes, the film becomes relentless in regards to its action and moments of pure suspense. The score by Marco Beltrami is well done in regards to taking command of the audiences emotions along with creating both an uneasy and chilling tone to the story. Given Beltrami's trackrecord of working within the horror genre from The Scream trilogy to Halloween H20 and The Faculty, the acclaimed composer knows how to generate thrills and excitement through his composing of the films effective score. As far as the films directing goes, Jaume Collet-Serra proves to be more than capable of crafting a frightening shark tale that ranks as being perhaps the strongest one to grace the big screen since Jaws. With his work on The Shallows, Serra takes what's essentially a basic plot and crafts a lean, mean, and terrifying oceanic experience for audiences.
The script written by Anthony Jaswinski, works as being a strong character study with the screenplay revolving around the character arc of Nancy fighting to survive against a killer shark, as well as overcoming the built up loss of losing her mother. The script covers themes including loss, regret, family, strength, and courage with Nancy's character both experiencing as well as showcasing all of these dilemmas. The audience is given minimal information regarding her mother's death, but get a sense of the loss with the conversation-turned-clash she has over the phone with her father, where its revealed that she quit medical school over her mother's death. The script gives little moments where the bond that Nancy's character feels with her mother is shown with flashbacks of them on the beach when she was younger. Although the story leans on the side of being rather basic in regards to Lively's character being stuck on a rock, it's the steady character growth as well as the buildup of tension that make it work. The script incorporates key moments that add to the intensity of the overall experience such as the young boy in the opening sequence finding footage of one of the sharks previous attacks, as well as sequences including a random thief ashore whom Nancy begs for help only to discover that he's robbing her before being decapitated by the shark, along with those she met while surfing prior. The script does well with setting up these key sequences of terror and effectively spreading them throughout the film in a smart effort to keep the audience in suspense so that they never feel bored. The scenario along with Lively's character are both portrayed as being realistic and sympathetic to audiences as their adrenaline constantly shoots through the roof when a shark attack occurs along with the possibility that Nancy may not survive her ordeal despite putting in a strong effort to do so. Her character is also shown to have a subplot in which she interacts with a Seagull on the small island rock in the ocean, that screams comparisons to Tom Hank's Cast Away with his character interacting with a Volleyball named Wilson. Where the writing for The Shallows excels at is playing off the universal fear, that audiences have in regards to being stranded in the ocean while being surrounded by a killer shark. The dialogue that Lively's character is given isn't a whole lot, but it properly establishes her characters background for the audience to connect with her. The little moments where Nancy is shown observing the sharks movements and patterns, are some of the more interesting ones in the script. As a screenplay that aims to present a fast-paced shark tale that consists largely of primal fear, the film knows what it wants to be and goes about executing its storyline accordingly with a strong and appealing main character that successfully garner's the audience interest, as well as making them root for her survival. The Shallows screenplay may not be the meatiest of shark films, but it sticks to the basic fundamentals that's made the genre a successful one thus far while managing to be unexpectedly surprising.
As well put together and executed as The Shallows comes across as being, the film isn't without moments where its believability goes into question such as the bite on Nancy's leg being a minor one compared to the size of the shark that attacked her along with the beach being completely quiet and uneventful. The CGI effects on both the ocean and animals also come across as feeling a bit uneven at times with the water not matching the intense waves during the surfing scenes. Although these are visible flaws that one can notice when watching the film, they're minor ones as the strength of the films directing and storytelling stand out beyond its minor issues. The Shallows is a surprisingly entertaining and brilliantly assembled shark story, that stakes a very serious claim for being the best shark film made since Jaws. It's strong acting from Blake Lively along with crafty directing, solid yet subtle writing, beautifully shot cinematography, and effective scoring make it an adrenaline-fueled experience that showcases all the strongest aspects of the genre while showing audiences that it's still possible to make a scary film again that revolves around the concept of sharks. It can be said that Lively's performance serves as being the heart and soul of the movie with the creativity of the filmmakers elevating it to being memorable status as a horror film, making it compete with 47 Meters Down as the better shark movie of the two. Whereas the latter provides audiences with a thrilling spectacle, The Shallows does so along with an intense yet intriguing character study that puts a fun spin on the man vs shark concept. The Shallows isn't anything groundbreaking in regards to both filmmaking nor is it on the level of iconic status as Jaws that's seen as the gold standard of terrifying shark tales, but it makes the most of its basic plot with genuinely surprising results. Just when audiences thought that it wasn't possible to make a good shark movie again, The Shallows emerges and manages to defy expectations.
Final Verdict: For those looking for a thrillingly effective and reasonably satisfying shark movie, The Shallows is a must watch suspense ride that proves to be a worthy addition to the iconic movie genre.
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