Steven
Spielberg’s 1975 film “Jaws” is regarded as one of the greatest films of all
time. What was supposed to be a cheesy B-horror flick, turned into a highly
acclaimed masterpiece, and the film that coined the phrase “blockbuster” after
being the first film in history to gross over $100 million at the box office
during its original run in theaters, and rightfully so. The amount of effort
that was put into this film, with its cast of characters, special effects, and
how it adapted the book to the silver screen was astounding.
Since then,
we’ve had several films try to replicate the magic that “Jaws” had, but none of
them have ever succeeded. Hell, not even the SEQUELS to “Jaws” have been able
to do so. With the amount of shark films that there are, it’s easy to build an
entire film collection out of shark films. And today, we’ll be talking about
the newest addition to the killer shark genre, “The Shallows.”
The film is
about Nancy, a Texan surfer who wants to surf at her late-mother’s favorite
beach. Things go sour for her during the trip, as she is attacked by a shark
and stranded on a rock. Now she has until tomorrow’s high tide to get out, or
be shark feed.
I did find
interest in the film’s premise, being a surfer survival film, and I do think
Blake Lively is a good actress. Plus, with the praise the film was getting, I
decided to see it for myself…and out of all the shark films I’ve seen, this is
one of the more boring ones.
I will give
credit to Blake Lively’s performance in the movie. Being the main focus for
about 90% of the film, as she doesn’t have much to work off of, she does her
best with the material she’s given, being stranded on a rock during low tide,
while under the hungry watch of a shark. Every bit of pain that she goes
through, whether it’d be from the coral underneath or from the shark itself, it
does feel like it hurts. However, that’s probably the only kind of praise that
I can give this film.
Everything
else in the film just doesn’t seem to grab me whatsoever. I thought the pace
was dreadfully slow, as it takes way too long for things to get somewhat
interesting, and even when we do get to the shark, I still felt like nodding
off. I felt like the direction didn’t really leave me with anything that made
me think, “wow, that was tense.” Even during the climax, there wasn't really anything that had me worried about what would happen. It’s sad, because it was directed by Jaume
Collet-Serra, the director of “Unknown,” “Non-stop,” and “Run All Night.” The
past few films have shown him to be a relatively solid director, but I guess
like his film debut with “House of Wax,” horror isn’t really his strong point.
I’m
probably guessing that some of you are going to question on why I would give
this film a hard time, yet give praise to something like “The Forest.” Well, I
think it’s because “The Forest” had an interesting premise to work around, and
being in such an environment, added to the film’s atmosphere. It could also be that
after all the shark movies that are shat out almost every year, it’s gotten to
be kind of boring. I understand that this film was trying to bring shark movies
back into serious light, but it didn’t seem to work here.
Overall, if
you found “The Shallows” investing, then more power to you. However, with how
slow and uninvesting the movie is, it’s hard for me to give it a recommendation.
I thought Blake Lively was good in it, but I didn’t think it was enough to win
me over.
Rating: 2/10
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