The Shallows is a thriller of sorts that stars Blake Lively as a surfer who finds herself stranded on a rock on a secluded Mexican beach only 200 meters from shore, only catch is that a 20 foot great white man eating shark is on the prowl and serves as a formidable foe for our protagonist. At a tidy run time of 126 minutes, The Shallows is a quick ride that doesn't waste too much of your time, but that doesn't mean its an enjoyable one. Granted, this movie is exactly what it wants to be, but being a campy shark thriller that belongs in the '80's isn't a good thing necessarily. Boasting one of the most pathetically drab and awkward scripts in the history of film dialogue, as well as a lazy tacked on ending, this film sinks far below the shallows, but rather to the depths of mediocrity.
This movie has some positives though. Blake Lively does a good job for the most part, and the CGI for the shark was pretty good. This film is shot well, and has a sleek, expensive look that lends some credibility to it in some sense. Essentially, The Shallows is a Ferrari with the horsepower of a Prius, looks nice but is underwhelming. At its core, The Shallows is shallow, which I guess makes the title fitting, so that's another plus. Other than that this film is very below average. Attempts at fleshing out the main character are derailed by the flimsiness of the lame dialogue. It got so bad that I sunk in my seat due to its awkwardness. However, dialogue is at a premium in this movie, so it spares you somewhat, and that can serve as another positive. When the director tries to give the viewers hints at what is happening or give us insight into the main character's, Lively simply mutters her every move and realization. It's lazy direction and simply moves the plot forward without any style or substance. Visual storytelling and acting usually do that, in a good movie that is...
"Boasting one of the most pathetically drab and awkward scripts in the history of film dialogue, as well as a lazy tacked on ending, this film sinks far below the shallows, but rather to the depths of mediocrity."
There are moments where the film is actually thrilling, thanks to solid visual effects and Lively's performance, but these moments are fleeting. Far and in between are the times where action or excitement are in the forefront. For a film with a tidy runtime and not much plot, it really drags. Too much time is spent watching Lively groan and recoil in pain, or muttering, or talking to a seagull for cheap laughs. The thrilling sequences that are in this movie sometimes don't even feel deserved, as there isn't much suspense leading up to them. They feel somewhat empty and the journey getting there isn't remotely fulfilling. The Shallows may appear better than it is because it enters a historically weak film genre, that being the shark attacking summer blockbuster post- JAWS, but trust me, it isn't. It's cheesy, campy, and tossed together without much effort. To compound it all is the worst movie ending of the year, and its only June. A cliched, lazy, and preachy ending a predictable message. It's aggressively lame and unenjoyable, and tacked on. The Shallows could've ended 5 minutes earlier not only to stop the profuse bleeding from my eyes, but also be better from a filmmaking stand point.
D