REVIEW: The Shallows

I cannot stand a protagonist who is stupid and brings about their misfortune because of making common sense mistakes.  Take Blake Lively's character Nancy in The Shallows, for instance.  She goes to a secluded beach to go surfing by herself.  Granted there are two other people there, but she stays in the water when they leave.  That's not smart.  Then, the best decision of them all, is when she decides to paddle her surfboard over to the corpse of a whale that quite obviously has been eaten by something.  Surprise, surprise, there is a shark in the water.

This is when I would roll my eyes and hope that the worst happens to her, knowing that she brought it on herself by making the dumbest decision in the world to check out something that is always the scene of a shark feeding frenzy.  However, I was shocked when the film continued and I found myself invested in her well being.  This, my friends, is the sign of great acting.  To take someone who I normally want to see being shit out of a shark, and transform me into a fist pumping fan of the character.

The story is essentially her in the water with this shark.  It's no spoiler, that's what the trailer shows.  But to pull it off properly, it needs the attention to detail in the performance, and that is exactly what we get from Lively.  Tom Hanks pulled off seclusion in Cast Away, and we see a similar level of ability here.

What also aids this movie is the fact that it is a blend of schlocky and tension.  With the premise, for the movie to take itself too seriously it could end up being laughable and boring.  However, director Jaume Collet-Serra knows that this movie needs to be equal parts fun and suspenseful.  He uses interesting shots and edits to bring about the suspense, incorporating the score masterfully as well.  And when the shark attacks, it is something out of a glorious b-movie.

Normally I would say that two different tones in a film is not a good thing.  It was what kept me from ultimately recommending 2013's Neighbours, as that film played both in the realm of reality as well as that of slapstick, continuously crossing between the two and leaving me feeling like it didn't know what exactly it was.  In the case of The Shallows, it comes across as purposeful.  The proof is in the fact that I jumped at the startles that occurred, with a glorious smile on my face from being taken in by the director at something that was so goofy looking and crazy.

Not everything needs to be super serious.  In fact, sometimes something that is just plain fun is needed, especially in the midst of blockbuster season.  There is nothing groundbreaking with The Shallows, and yet I would still call it the best shark movie since Jaws.  Let's be honest, there have not been many good shark movies made.  Luckily there is a good one in theatres right now, and it is just waiting for you to sink your teeth into it.

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars