shallowsThe Shallows
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons

This is one of the simplest and most straightforward movies to come out in a long time. But be sure to take note that simple doesn’t mean bad or uninteresting. Sometimes simple is good, as it is here. So why don’t I keep things simple and just get right to it.

The Shallows is largely a one-woman show with Blake Lively as the star. She plays a young med student who suffers a tragedy, leaves school, and goes to a beautiful and nearly deserted beach to find herself, have a vision quest, get in touch with the spirit of her late mother, something. She stays out a little too late while surfing and whoops, giant great white shark time. She gets nibbled on a bit, knocked off her surfboard, and only gets away from the shark thanks to a little tiny coral island that appears at low tide and vanishes at high tide. The safety of the beach is just a few hundred feet away, but between her and it is a very large, scarred, and angry eating machine. But she has to do something because all too soon the tide will rise again and then…

There are many good things about The Shallows, but chief among them are the visuals. This movie looks great, plain and, yes, simple. The cinematography is breathtaking, especially the underwater scenes. If you like watching beautiful movies, this one is worth getting just for that. As for the acting, Blake Lively is more than up for the task of carrying this movie on her shoulders. She can pull off funny, brave, scared, sad, and pissed off as the story calls for it, and never misses a beat. And her avian costar, Sully ‘Steven’ Seagull, while not having as much screen time as Ms. Lively, is up to the task as well. The shark, being largely CGI, looks surprisingly well, and that’s coming from someone who is usually no fan of CGI, and there are even a few gore gags. However, this is a PG-13 movie, so don’t expect gallons of blood or anything. Really, there is nothing to complain about here.

On to the extras and goodies on this new Blu-ray from Sony. First, there are a few featurettes, such as “Shooting in the Shallows,” which is a short, six minute making of; “When Sharks Attack” is a seven and a half minute doc about, well, when sharks attack in real life. “How to Build a Shark” is a seven minute look at how the shark was made with CGI, and “Finding the Perfect Beach” is a six minute look at the location where the movie was shot. A collection of three deleted scenes are also included here. So yeah, no commentary tracks, and the featurettes are all on the short side, but at least the disc isn’t barebones.

If you are a fan of shark movies, then The Shallows is for you. Even if you are not a huge fan of them, as I am not, chances are good you’ll like this movie. It is easily one of the best shark movies ever made. No, it’s not Jaws, but it’s pretty damn close. Consider it highly recommended.

About Brian M. Sammons

Brian M. Sammons has penned stories that have appeared in the anthologies: Arkham Tales, Horrors Beyond, Monstrous, Dead but Dreaming 2, Horror for the Holidays, Deepest, Darkest Eden and others. He has edited the books; Cthulhu Unbound 3, Undead & Unbound, Eldritch Chrome, Edge of Sundown, Steampunk Cthulhu, Dark Rites of Cthulhu, Atomic Age Cthulhu, World War Cthulhu and Flesh Like Smoke. He is also the managing editor of Dark Regions Press’ Weird Fiction line. For more about this guy that neighbors describe as “such a nice, quiet man” you can check out his infrequently updated webpage here: http://brian_sammons.webs.com/ and follow him on Twitter @BrianMSammons.

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