The Shallows review: Sharks are back on the big screen, but can they compete with Blake Lively?
The Shallows review
Sharks have always been portrayed as the demons of the sea when it comes to cinema. Not too surprising given the fact they look like Satan’s water dogs. Ever since Jaws did them no favours it’s been simple to create horror. After all, us puny humans are never more vulnerable than when we’re in the ocean, and sharks have sharp teeth. We’ve had our Deep Blue Sea and our Open Water, but recently sharks have been relegated to the SyFy channel where they are still portrayed as mass murderers, albeit more campy funny ones. Ghost Shark, Sand Sharks, Two-Headed Shark Attack, and of course Sharknado, have given us memorable but delightfully stupid reasons to continue our irrational fear of the ferocious fishies. Finally it’s time for sharks to hit the big screen once again with The Shallows, on-paper a terrifying horror of isolation and despair. How does it work in practice though?
Blake Lively plays Nancy, a surf enthusiast who travels to her late mother’s favourite secretive beach. There she plans to surf, but once left alone finds that she has encroached on the territory of a shark who was minding his own business feasting on a humpback whale. Viciously attacked, Nancy seeks refuge on a rock out at sea, but with blood loss, freezing cold nights, and a lack of food or water, it looks as though her days are numbered.
The Shallows review
The Shallows sounds as though it could be a nightmarish minimalist horror, but instead manages to be a daft and exciting piece that often boggles the mind. Early on you’re never quite sure whether you’re laughing at it or with it, but thankfully the stupidity cranks up to levels where the humour is apparent. Blake Lively fighting a shark is pure entertainment on ridiculous levels of buffoonery, but there are still many problems with the film which are both funny and disappointing.
From early on it’s clear that the film just wants to keep your attention and not force you to put yourself in Nancy’s position. The script constantly makes excuses for Nancy to not seem so alone, and also stretches to find reasons for Lively to talk or do something other than die slowly. The Revenant this isn’t. The film is littered with Hollyoaks style one screen texts, while loud music and sweeping slow-mo makes for some location porn. Once alone on the rock Nancy is given a Disney style sidekick in the form of a seagull, which allows Lively to deliver dialogue. More frustratingly, the majority of Lively’s dialogue is needless or just placed there out of fear for the audience’s stupidity. When treating her wound (she’s a doctor), she talks herself (or more importantly us) through the procedure. Spotting a Go-Pro in the water (you’ll see how it gets there) she declares “A CAMERA!”. Funniest of all is when she tries engaging in conversation with the shark “Where are you taking me?”
The Shallows review
It’s obvious the studio are getting the most out of Lively as they can: she’s not being paid to sit around quietly. It’s a real shame, as with simply editing out most of the lines, calming down the music, and not trying to be too flashy with the editing, this could have been a solid and scary film. Alternatively it could have embraced the silly much earlier on and gone for full entertainment value. Instead we get a pretty decent, intense, and surprisingly funny movie that will certainly make it worth the trip to the cinema. Lively holds the film together and is thankfully unaware when it teeters on the edge of absurdity, making it all the more enjoyable. Some ropey effects add to both the disappointment, but also the camp. Mixed bag certainly, but one I didn’t regret sinking my teeth into.
The Shallows review by Luke Ryan Baldock, August 2016
The Shallows is released on August 10th.
