• Review: The Shallows (2016)

    From David N. Butterworth@21:1/5 to All on Sun Dec 18 18:47:35 2016
    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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