The Shallows (2016)

 

Many shark films have been made and yet they all have to keep on bowing down to the quintessential one. 

Being 'Jaws', obviously. 

But sometimes one comes along that does an excellent job with the material given, and 'The Shallows' is a much better shark story than it sometimes is given credit for. 

Sure, it's not without problems and chances are this isn't going to become the new classic everyone still wants after all these years, but it's a damn fun ride. 

Blake Lively plays Nancy, a young woman who has real problems coming to grips with the death of her mother. She sort of dropped out of medical school and is now on a trip to Mexico to find a beach where her mom used to go surfing when she was younger. Normally, she was supposed to go with a friend of her, but that one stayed at the hotel nursing a hangover. Nancy finds the secluded bay and it is absolutely beautiful. There are some other surfers as well and the waves are made for riding them. 

So far, so good. But when the evening starts to set in, Nancy discovers a whale carcass that is slowly drifting into the bay and with it, a rather cranky great white. Nancy gets bitten on the leg but manages to make it to an outcropping of rocks. The shark meanwhile stays close so Nancy can't get to the shore which is only about 200 metres away. The surfers return the next day, but are unceremoniously killed by the beastie. So Nancy has to think quickly in order to survive, as the tide is coming in and there's only an old buoy close by. 

A simple idea, executed almost flawlessly. That pretty much sums this film up. Kudos to Blake Lively, who has to carry the entire story. This is, for all intents and purposes (not porpoises) a monologue and she does a fine job of making us empathise with her plight. Sure, you could argue that it was rather stupid to venture near a whale carcass in the first place, but we wouldn't have a film otherwise. 

Also: when there's this much food around, there's no way any shark would attack anything. They are not in the habit of making it difficult for themselves, no matter what films through the years have told us. 

There are a few jumpscares, but they are done really well and the abuse and wounds Nancy suffers feel very real and painful. Expertly done with sound design and visuals, I might add. The scene with the luminescent jellyfish is gorgeous, even if these jellyfish don't light up like christmas trees in real life. 

What also helps, is that they took the effort to make the shark look as realistic as possible. Yes, it is all CG, but she looks like an angry, large great white and a real one to boot. Very often, there's something off about the design, but not here. The fishing hook protruding from her mouth is a nice touch and this is used partly as an excuse to explain why the shark is so aggressive. You just need to suspend disbelief that any shark would so ruthlessly come after a single person. 

'The Shallows' is a real fun ride and one of the better shark films from the past decade. It has a few pacing issues and some of the more emotional moments don't really come across that well, but the suspense is well done, the visuals are stunning and they know not to overdo the stuff that would otherwise make you roll your eyes. 

Good work.