The Shallows

A young medical student arrives on an idyllic, secluded beach to contemplate her life and catch a few waves whilst surfing. However, just beyond the beach lies a Great White Shark and she's just walked into its feeding ground. Separated and alone, she's got to survive on her wits and battle a killer before it's too late.

Shark movies peaked with Jaws. That's not a hot take or an arbitrary opinion. It's fact. There hasn't been one single film on the topic of sharks that's been as good as Jaws. Yet, every so often, we see some attempts at the subgenre. Some poke fun directly at the ridiculousness of it all - Sharknado being the prime example - whilst others, like The Shallows, come at it from a much straight-on angle. Without attempting to do anything different with it all, you'd have to wonder why they bothered in the first place. Coming away from The Shallows, that's the overarching question - why bother?

Blake Lively is a final-year medical student who's arrived on a remote beach that her mother frequented when she was the same age. At first, it all seems quite cheery and pleasant and Lively meets up with two other surfers and enjoy the beautiful waves and the sun. However, deciding to stay out in the water alone as it nears the evening, she inadvertently strays into the feeding ground of a Great White Shark and so begins the film in earnest. The shark strikes hard and wounds Lively quite deeply and there's an interesting - if you can call it that - juxtaposition between the somewhat pervy camera angles director Jaume Collet-Serra uses on Lively before and after the attack.

The problem with The Shallows is that, for the most part, it's completely predictable. You can understand why, in fairness. There's only so many things you can do when there's a shark in the water and you're trying to get out. However, what makes The Shallows so frustrating to watch is that it does nothing new or exciting with the concept. Moreover, Lively isn't a good enough actor to keep you engaged or excited in the story, so it really becomes a case of marking time and predicting the story as you watch it. There are some interesting moments, particularly with an ill-fated rescue attempt that's almost played for comedic effect and Marco Beltrami's score undeniably calls back to the aforementioned Jaws.

Still, it's passable enough and there are a few interesting moments throughout the film, but it's all so annoyingly contrived and heavily scripted that it just doesn't go over when you watch it. You know she's going to survive because, let's face it, this is how these things go. For all the posturing throughout the film, all the false hope and so on, it's clear that Lively's character is going to make it out. Moreover, the character development is so bland and uninteresting that you're not all that invested in the story in the first place, so why bother at all?

As it stands, it's a fair attempt, but really, just go watch Jaws instead.