‘The Shallows’ review: “We’re gonna need a bigger plot”
As an exercise of wasting time on the internet if you search the term “shark movie list” on google you’ll be exposed to the plethora of shark movies out there. The list includes Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, Sharktopus, 2 Headed Shark Attack, Sand Sharks, Night of the Sharks, Sharknado, Ghost Shark and many such gems. Hence the ratio of a good shark movie to a bad shark movie is mighty asymmetric. By that logic making a good shark movie might seem like an uphill slope.
‘The Shallows’ directed by Jaume Collet Serra, the guy who mostly made movies about Liam Neeson punching his way out of things, does a decent job of creating a taut thriller given the limited resources the movie has to bank on. In terms of the plot it is Open Water meets Jaws. The only novel concept that this movie brings is the protagonist being stranded only 200 yards from the shore. Which might make some people go ‘Meh! I’ve been to family reunions way more scarier’.
Given the 87 minute runtime, the first 15 minutes of which are spent on close ups of Blake Lively’s surfer bod, the intensity of the movie does occasionally sink. Threatened by a shark who seems way too obsessed, and not just I’m-hungry-hence-obsessed but more like “I will like all your posts on Facebook” obsessed…the protagonist is stranded on a small rock with a seagull for company. Being alone with bleak chances of survival might be a tough situation to express for an actor, an example of great execution would be Robert Redford in All is Lost. Hence the injured seagull for company seems like a crutch to shove in some dialog (and a ‘Steven Seagull’ joke) to what would actually be silent frustration. In turn the existential seagull actually ends up with greater acting chops than “Gossip Girl” Blake Lively.
The good part though is that Mr.CGI Shark’s appearances are kept to a minimum. So its more about the anticipatory threat of the shark than the actual “Imma bite you now!” jumps scares, as Jaws 101 taught us. The fear of an imminent high tide, the lack of resources, a shark going through people like a pack of Pringles, the gratuitous bikini shots…all of these do add up for an interesting watch nonetheless. And as I mentioned earlier, for a genre that can go wrong in ways that are constantly being explored, a decent movie might just be good enough. To drive this point further you can refer to Samuel L Jackson meeting a shark in Deep Blue Sea.
So if you’re a fan of shark movies, then there’s a good pay off. If you’re not interested in watching popcorn flicks, then you’d rather watch Jaws again.
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