The Shallows
This 2016 survival horror follows Nancy, an American medical student who is on a surfing holiday in Tijuana where her mother, who has recently passed away, went when she was pregnant with her. When she is out on the water for 'one more go', this time without the company of the two local men who were also enjoying the waves, a giant shark, attracted by the decaying carcass of a whale, attacks her surfboard leaves her stranded on a rock with a bite wound in her leg, gangrene and hypothermia setting in, and the tide rising.
Blake Lively is very good as the protagonist and the shark, as the antagonist, is seen enough to ratchet up the tension, but not too much to overstretch the CGI budget or use too much stock footage. In that sense, director Jaume Collet-Serra, his work hasn't really impressed me in the past, has learned a lot from Steven Spielberg's approach in Jaws (less is most certainly more, with the silhouette of the predatory fish more than enough to remind you of its presence), an approach that pays off very well.
At about 80 minutes, with the extra time for credits, it doesn't outstay its welcome or drag in any way – the sense of urgency conveyed through Nancy's watch, the slowly disappearing rock and changing skin colour makes the time fly by. There are some very well orchestrated jumps which do not feel in any way cheap and a lovely relationship between Nancy and an injured seagull, which she charmingly calls Steven.
All in all, I really enjoyed this and recommend it highly to anyone with misgivings about renting it or even picking up the disc as a blind buy.
|