Believe it or not it’s been 41 years since JAWS was released
to theaters. That movie has become a classic, as thrilling a ride today as it
was all those years ago. Since then a few movies about sharks have come and
gone, most of them low budget films or the occasional sharks in a tornado. Now
along comes a movie that tries to take the fear of sharks to a new intensity.
Does THE SHALLOWS work?
Blake Lively plays Nancy, a young woman trying to find
herself after the recent death of her mother. She’s left behind her father and
younger sister as well as her medical schooling. Vacationing in Mexico and
trying to locate a beach her mother told her of, a beautiful shore that offers
tremendous surfing. Her friend having ditched her for partying in their hotel,
Nancy is taken by a guide to the beach and left to discover its beauty.
She suits up, grabs her surfboard and heads out into the
water. Once on the waves she meets two guys also there for the surfing, one
with a GoPro camera mounted on a helmet. They strike up a cordial camaraderie
on the waves and enjoy the great surfing there. Nancy goes in for a while and
then heads back out while the other two head to shore.
Once back on the waves Nancy sees something in the distance.
She paddles her board over to it to discover it’s a whales that’s been
partially eaten by a predator with a large bite. Realizing she might be in
danger she tries to head for shore only to be sideswiped and bitten by the huge
shark responsible for the dead whale. Gathering her wits and climbing up on the
whale, she watches as her broken board drifts away. She calls to the two fellow
surfers about the leave the shallows to no avail.
With a lacerated leg she waits until the timing is right and
swims to a nearby rock formation only to cut her foot on the jagged coral at
its base. The coral and the tide moving out were things she was warned of. Now,
with leg and foot bleeding, she must use every resource she has to survive. Her
first effort is to stop the bleeding from her leg, a rather gruesome sight for
some.
On the small outcropping barely 8 feet wide, she makes a
friend of sorts in a seagull with a broken wing. As the pair struggle to
survive, 200 yards from shore, Nancy will find out if she has the determination
that made her mother a survivor in life and a woman who faced death with
courage. Various events happen during her time on the outcropping including the
attempted rescue by her two new friends, an attempted rescue by a drunk and her
eventual decision to swim to a life buoy nearby in hopes of finding something
she can use to survive.
So let’s talk about the shake first. Most of us recall the
mechanical shark we grew up watching in the movie JAWS. It was terrifying at
the time but subsequent viewings have made it seem not quite what it seemed
that first time around. With the effects capabilities we now have today a CGI
shark not only looks real but is far more capable of feats and actions that the
mechanical one couldn’t accomplish. Does it work? I would say yes. When viewed
from above looking straight down it is an enormous beast of a great white
shark. The attack moments will put you on seats edge. So yes, it works.
Lively does a great job without someone to toss lines back
and forth to. Her acting skills are used to display what this character does in
order to survive as opposed to just looking pretty. The combination of pain
from wounds and determination not to die alone on a small rock make her
performance one that stands out and yet will no doubt never be nominated for
anything. Perhaps it’s not Oscar material but it’s better than some I’ve seen
win.
What really makes this movie work is that it is an old
movie. By that I mean that it is made like movies used to be made. The story
slowly unfolds. The desperation seen by Nancy isn’t something that lingers only
on the immediate situation but plays out over the 80 some minutes of the film.
It’s never rushed, the movie never presses forward at breakneck speed in order
to placate MTV generation film goers with fast and furious images. Instead it
takes the time to tell a story.
THE SHALLOWS is a movie I could see watching again. It
entertained from start to finish. It kept you guessing what would happen next.
In today’s world there is no guarantee that the star will survive. Another
shark film, OPEN WATER showed that. And perhaps this one does too. I won’t
spoil that for you. You’ll have to watch to find out if all of Nancy’s attempts
to make it through this have a happy ending or not. Don’t worry, it will be
worth the watch.
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