Ever wanted to see a film based
around Jaws’ opening scene, except
here, the lady survives the initial attack and fends off the giant great
white? Well here you go!
The
Shallows is a fun summer thriller with a minimalist cast, a straight
forward plot, and a scary great white shark.
The story follows a med student named Nancy (Blake Lively), who’s
vacationing in Mexico after her mother’s recent death. While there, Nancy goes surfing at a secluded
beach her mom use to visit (Nancy’s fellow vacationing friend staying at their
hotel due to the “Irish flu”), only to be attacked by a violent great white
shark. Her leg injured from its bite,
Nancy scrambles on top of what summoned the shark: a humpback whale
carcass. The shark begins devouring the
whale, forcing Nancy to swim to a surfaced rock formation far from the shore. The refuge is temporary, however, and will
submerge when high tide returns—forcing Nancy to create an escape plan before
she becomes shark food.
The
Shallows’ shark isn’t as big as Jaws, but it’s certainly more
ravenous: devouring two people in under several minutes. The film makes it a point to showcase several
injuries the great white previously obtained from humans—a way to rationalize the
shark’s violent behavior while subverting the “ferocious man-eater” theme
associated with great whites. The Shallows’ shark-based theme is far
from original (one scene pays near-direct homage to Jaws’ finale), but it does have several distinctive ideas to add to the
shark-survival cinema—such as the previously mentioned whale carcass scene, which
the film displays in gory detail (Nancy using bloody, torn blubber as climbing
holds).
There are several other characters throughout
the film, but they mostly serve as background exposition for Nancy, or fodder
for the shark. Nancy is your standard,
survival-thriller female: something rough has happened in her life, she’s
feeling down, and it takes a series of ridiculous, life-threatening events
(where our protagonist cannot catch a break) to bring back her confidence and
strength. Nancy’s medical background is
a unique character trait that allows her to realistically handle
injuries, yet aside from that her backstory is basic and trivial. The film does an effective job, however, in
displaying Nancy’s thought process, making her actions and motives
comprehensible.
A minor, yet standout aspect is
Nancy’s caution towards the two male surfers at the secluded beach. The characters seem to be genuinely friendly
and helpful (warning Nancy where not to surf), yet Nancy displays a realistic wariness
towards these two strangers, politely declining their offer to surf on their
side. When the men head back to shore, Nancy
remains in the water alone (setting up the remaining story) to apparently
“catch one final wave”, yet her watchful eye as she observes them leave
(tensing up as they walk past her backpack) suggests otherwise.
The surprise standout aspect in The Shallows is Nancy’s relationship
with an injured Seagull (played by Steve the Seagull), who acts akin to Nancy’s
Wilson as she grows an unexpected bond with the bird. Amusingly, The Shallows’ most tense situation ends up being whether the
seagull would make it out alive or not (my wife was on edge about it the entire
film). The Shallows is entertaining summer fun, advertising exactly what
it gives: nothing more, nothing less. It’s
a good popcorn flick, but is best to go by its trailers when deciding if the premise
will be interesting enough to spend money on.