THE SHALLOWS (2016)
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2016 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
Nothing sells, cinematically, better than a bikini-clad babe or a great
white shark and "The Shallows," the lively new thrill-a-thon from director Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan") has 'em both! "Gossip Girl"'s Blake Lively
stars as Nancy, a med school dropout in an orange sorbet two-piece out to
find the perfect wave. Actually, she's searching for a secluded beach her mother, who succumbed to cancer, discovered down in Mexico one time. But
the location is not as idyllic as it first appears. A (CGI-rendered) great white has made the cove its feeding ground and Nancy, after indulging us
with some frothy and kinetic surfing action (CGI again), is about to provide--in the words of SNL's Cecily Strong--the "nib-bulls" (the shark inflicts a sizable bite to her thigh, then sticks around for seconds). A
mere 200 yards from shore, Nancy clings to a slowly-submerging outcrop of coral-encrusted rock with only a (non-CGI) gull with a dislocated wing for company. "Steven," as she refers to him once, plays the equivalent role
of that volleyball in "Castaway," allowing Nancy to tell us what she's
feeling. Lively impresses though, and Collet-Serra keeps the adrenaline pumping for a full sixty minutes. But a ludicrous denouement featuring a
buoy anchor puts paid to the fine contributions from director,
cinematographer, and star. And how shallow is *that*?
--
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews
butterworthdavidn@gmail.com
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