The Shallows (2016)
Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer:
Anthony Jaswinski
Cast:
Blake Lively (Nancy), Oscar Jaenada (Carlos), Angelo Josue & Lozano Corzo (Surfer), Brett Cullen (Dad), Sedona Legge (Chloe), Pablo Calva (Boy), Diego Espejel (Intoxicated man).
Opening Sequence:
Another shark film, a scream, an attack, welcome to the world of survival on the beach fronts. The main reason i picked this film to review is really because of the trailer that i caught just before one of my films at the theater. Yup i thought it would be a great shark movie to review other than the Sharknado series. Say what you want about the shark franchise but ever since Jaws (1975) sharks haven't really had a good go around. The attacks escalated, nobody really cared, and the studio continued making films about evil sharks. You have to admit, sharks are evil looking creatures under the water. Not only did the film had a small cast, it was amazing how the actress did her thing with not having other actors to feed the scene in. Oh! i forgot she had the Seagull, "Sully." All this is just my opinion, and you make the ultimate decision.
Review:
Nancy (Blake Lively) a medical student with the unusual love for surfing, she is being driven to a remote beach in Mexico. The one her mother used to go to when she was alive, cancer had taken her, but the memories brought her daughter to Mexico. She had been pregnant with her, and this was the beach she had gone to. Carlos (Oscar Jaenada) speaks broken English but enough to understand somethings. The beautiful roads to their destination gives her inner peace. Although her girlfriend had blown her off for the guys they had met last night. Not that it's a bad thing, but going to the water, surfing, especially where Carlos is taking me is a special place, it means something. Anyway the text was straight forward, and Nancy knew what she had to do. (The visual of her text had popped up. The audience notices what she had texted. A neat way of visually communicating a text without the camera focusing on the phone. Instead a display pops up with her text).
Carlos and Nancy talk a bit, afterwards, she tries to get the information about her destination, but her Spanish is to bad to understand. Carlos arrives, he helps her unload the jeep, gives Nancy her things. She tries to tip him, but declines the offer.
After Carlos leaves, Nancy gets ready for the beach, and the beautiful water. But before going in she calls home. Her sister Chloe (Sedona Legge) picks up, they talk about the beach, the place where mom had gone, before she had died of cancer. Afterwards her Dad (Brett Cullen) gets on the phone and their call goes from good to bad. He reminds her to finish medical school, and to stop the senseless bravado. Nancy like all daughters, is displeased, tells her dad that understanding was never his great attribute. She listens, and she mentions the fighter her mom was, and she would've done...The face time call was almost useless, she had argued with her dad, but as she said her goodbyes, she had drifted into sadness. Something she didn't want, especially this particular trip, she did not want to come all this way for nothing....
Good:
The beginning of the film we get the introduction of the main characters and the supporting characters, which is pretty good for Act 1. The balance is done well, the chit-chat of life. I even liked the cell phone text display, it was kinda cool. Blake Lively did a wonderful job not straying from her role. The supporting cast was pretty good, the tour guide, or driver, Carlos (Oscar Jaenada) was pretty good, even as he tried to play a guy who didn't understand the English language to well. Granted i speak Spanish so i know the signs. The actor played someone with broken English, but even with his acting i still knew his English was enough to understand. It's innate. Like the Force, it surrounds us, binds us. I know. Either way Act 1 did great, the characters were all established.
Nancy is a medical student, you know she is going to the beach in Mexico to surf, with or without her friends. Very little she takes with her, which is understood because her friend was supposed to meet her at the beach, but blew her off because of a guy. Again i understand all this, it's build up to whats to come. She takes her surf board, goes out and meets two guys, other surfers in the water. One with a Go-Pro attachment, it was neatly positioned on to the head piece he was wearing. The other guy did speak a bit of English, which was cool. The set up. Stages are set for something to happen. It's like you're waiting in line to a haunted house. You hear the screams but see nothing. The feeling of something is there, but it's not.
Sully the seagull was probably the coolest bird since K-2SO delivered his line on screen for the first time. It was the bird that kept her company, a place on the rock formation that was her safety net. Sully as she called him was her winged buddy. The scenes with the bird was great, it established an emotional connection, especially knowing help wasn't there. The isolation was the best ting for me, it established the one thing we humans hate, loneliness. We hate to be alone, we like to think we're tough, but in the long haul, nope, hate it. To me this was the best part of the film. Knowing help wasn't coming, and not giving up.
Bad:
We start getting to know the two other surfers, they interact with the main character, typical, not much to give a damn about them, but enough to establish a connection. Nancy had no friends, just the guys at the beach. No friends. No help. What if she had drowned on that remote beach. Yet she didn't even know the name of the location. Carlos didn't understand, but at least she arrived without any problems. The next issue is the problem, because the realism is out the window. Granted she is a surfer without a cause. But not knowing anything, especially the location of where they were. You would think she would know it, especially the one her mom went to. If it was so special, why didn't she know the name. She had to ask Carlos, and the communication wasn't good enough to get the information she needed. Map, would be nice. And her phone could get a text, and face time, but not a location, or anything like that. From my understanding if you have a GPS you need to know the address, or location right? If Carlos knew the beach, at least have the smarts to do something. Her reasons why she wants to go to that place in Mexico was established, but not knowing the name or something is a bit much. I want to go to the beach, but knowing there are more than one beach and not knowing the freaking name is foolish.
Ugly:
OK here it goes. The surfers leave. Nancy wants to go out one last time by herself. She rides the waves. But notices a dead whale. It spooks her, and she tries to swim back to the shallows. The Great White knocks her off the surf board. She spins in the drift of the water. Just before getting control the shark attacks and injures her left thigh. She manages to swim over to a raised rock formation. She reaches, and makes it without any altercation. With that being said. Holy Cow! how did i know the Great White was female. Because i looked it up and the film makers used the biggest of sharks. 15 to 20 feet long, about 5,000 LBS. Take that on for size, i mean why would the shark just attack her? Ask that question and you'd probably get an answer of:
"The shark was feeding on the dead whale, and Nancy pissed it off," really. I could even understand the, "Nancy disrupted the sharks feeding ground. It was pissed because of the steal thing in it's mouth. Or because it would make a great movie if the shark was possessed by the Ghost of Christmas Past."
Or what about when she was bleeding so bad, granted she used her wet suit as a tourniquet, i get that. That was cool. But the displays of strength was amazingly out of the realm of reality. This film reminds me of the old Jason slasher flicks. But wait the shark is like Jason or Freddy, they stalk the prey until they die. I could understand if the shark was hurt, and Nancy was some kind of a threat to it. But to have a Great White is kinda unrealistic. Granted it's a movie, give the film makers a break. Nope. The main character had know idea. She didn't know her location, and if you're a true surfer, you'd know the dangers, at least have a group with you. Granted her friend blew her off, i'll give her that. She needed a reason to be there, and it was her mom, i'll give her that to. But when is danger going to kick in. A huge body of water, with two unknown surfers, and somehow a dead whale comes in on all this. I get why the shark was there. feeding ground. I get that. But the shark's constant attacks on her, showing a display of intelligence. I even get that. But why? Have it not be injured to the point where the shark is already pissed off. Bleeding as well. She was just there at the wrong time. Granted it did have something in it's mouth, which might off caused some anger. But wait the shark is now a slasher. I could see it now. The Halloween, Jason theme music in the background.
The way Nancy dealt with the shark was great for a bad B movie, but all the time and energy the film makers put into this film, you would think the story would've been tighter. So she being a super hero swimming with an injured leg could out swim a female Great White Shark. Nope. But yet she did, and the way she had taken care of the situation was not only unrealistic but almost fantasy like. I mean have a bit of realism. Have Nancy swim to the shore, or try something. the whole flare thing, and a ship from a far was good. Have the ship come to save her. She has already shown signs of her strengths. like the way she positioned herself from the shark. Timed the way the shark moved from on point to another. Her strength was the intelligence with in her. She had the situation under control, which established the thrill ride in the film. So the ship gets closer, saves her, maybe get more deaths with the shark hitting the ship. Nope! She had to do it the Laura Croft way, and when it was over i get the feeling of dread. And what about the surfers, they get in the water. They scream no shark here, and the massive shark which isn't seen takes the dude with the long hair out, quick and silent. The colors that are on the shark make it very difficult to see in the water. even in the shallows. All in all i give this film very low numbers for action, and story. The way Nancy went about taking out the beast. And high numbers with the overall set up, getting to that point. The thrill ride was established.
The story could've gone another route, it was all over the place. The film was still fun, and entertaining, but the reality, and fantasy line was crossed and when it does that the film pays the price. At least for me it did. The eye candy was Blake Lively, but other than that the film had no real standing. As far a a shark film, Jaws (1975) still holds the title. The film had really great scenes, i even enjoyed the flare scene, you'd think that was it, but no i went to a show of bravado, even with her extreme injuries. It was like going into a room full of armed militant groups and the only thing left for you was a pop gun. The chances on taking out that group are slim at best. In the film Nancy had an opportunity, she took it with the flares, and even with that the ship never came. All is lost, and with all that the film had even timed the tides. 5 hours 20 minutes, etc. Very wrong and again the realism is diminished to the point you hate the film. Either way rent, buy, watch Jaws a real shark film, like i said it still holds up, even now.
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