Gorgeous scenery, a strong performance from Blake Lively, and some very nice suspense. A fun summer treat for sure. If you like this type of movie "The Shallows" is a damn fine one.

8/10 (A-)

Blake Lively was good and the film is fine to watch.... not really memorable or something I'd watch again though

I'm probably seeing it again Tuesday . Along with Neon Demon and Independence Day.

I really wanted to watch this movie but it doesn't release here till August....ugh.

It's incredibly dumb, but it's a total blast. Definitely one of the most entertaining movies of the summer. A-

Surfing solo on an isolated Mexican beach, American medical student Nancy (Blake Lively) is set upon by an enormous great white. Bleeding badly from her leg, she finds precarious refuge on a small stone island around 200 yards from shore, but it will vanish with the rising tide, leaving her limited time to plot her escape. The Shallows is a simple and well-executed B movie, deriving a significant amount of suspense from its heroine's predicament and pushing the PG-13 envelope very far in regard to gashes and viscera. It is also an unexpectedly strong showcase for Lively, known for Gossip Girl, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Green Lantern and, to be honest, not regularly thought of as incredibly talented. But she shines here in a role requiring her to share the screen with only a seagull and the waves for a long stretch of time, delivering a committed physical performance while conveying genuine fear and determination. The character is well-conceived, too, proving resourceful and perceptive in the midst of extreme peril without lapsing into the nearly superhuman, MacGyver-style problem solving which defused the suspense in The Martian. The film steps slightly wrong in the third act—Nancy's final encounter with her toothy marine foe strains credulity a bit too far, and an extraneous epilogue is incredibly cheesy and should not have survived the cutting room—but it is still a satisfying piece of summertime escapism.

B

I am not sure I agree with this. While it is not going to be shown in any marine-biology classes any time soon, it seems fairly...non-dumb to me by the standard of this sub-genre, except maybe the over-the-top, slightly confusing way she destroys the shark in the end. But most of it seems quite sound to me in an A-to-B-to-C way.

A slick, lean white knuckler with an expert buildup of tension from director Jaume Collet-Serra. This is Blake Lively's Gravity/Cast Away/The Martian and she carries the movie considerably well; she fully commits to the draining physicality and emotion of the role, carrying everything on her shoulders. The underwater shots are also frequently gorgeous. B+

The entire finale is ridiculous. But believe me, I didn't mind - it was a blast.

The actress playing the sister reminds me of Chloe Grace Moretz circa (500) Days of Summer and the first Kick-Ass.

The Shallows is a solid little shark thriller which plays out fairly logically, though it does cheat a couple times to amp up the thrills in the last act. I'm a fan of this type of problem solving movie, and found this a satisfying example that knew better than to wear out it's welcome. I wish more directors had the sense to keep their movies under 90 minutes when the story demands it. *B+"

Pretty solid film. It's not really memorable in any way, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Blake Lively carries it well and is a very likable character. The tension and the sequences with the shark are well done, even though the CGI was a bit dodgy at times. It's beautifully shot aswell and the short running time works perfectly for this type of movie.

THE SHALLOWS

I enjoyed the film. It was nothing amazing but I did like it. The visuals and scenery of the film were beautiful to look at and the surfing shots were cool. I liked that and some of the music. The gradual buildup of intensity was good. I wasn't a huge fan of the video memoir or the exact way the shark was killed but it was certainly entertaining.

Grade - B

I'm always up for a shark movie and The Shallows did not disappoint. Great shark action, great scenary, mostly good music (outside of the Trouble song) and I thought Blake Lively had an impressive performance. All she had to do was look hot, but she the character through her face. The giddy joy at finding the beach to the determinism that she didn't have to die. I was rooting for her to win and was pleased she did, and wasn't merely rescued by some dude. You go girl.

I don't really have anything negative to say about this one. It was fun, moved at a brisk pace, was suspenseful and Lively gave a very good performance. Nothing to write home about but a solid little thriller.

B

Had an impressive?

I meant performance but any amount of perverted things you could think of would also be accurate.

Its a simple story that is beautifully shot, superbly executed and very well acted, the small run-time is very apt for this kind of movie. The movie introduces Nancy and her background well but for some reason (assuming legal causes) keeps the name of the island hidden throughout the entire movie. It uses all the elements it can throw with this premise adding only six more characters, using the two surfers to show how merciless the shark is, using the drunk man at the beach to show how a lot of people just ignore to help and lastly the boy and driver who finally comes to aid but end up short in their rescue. Nancy herself is very resourceful being the medical student and a good swimmer/surfer which is also introduced nicely in the movie.

The backdrop of the island and the camerawork is impeccable and Collet-Sara does a great job introducing the surfing scenes and tidying up everything at the end. The script is quite clever at times with the introduction of camera upfront so as to make this very believable. Blake Lively is the heart and sole of this movie, she makes the character her own and brings fear, physical acumen and warmth. You can easily relate to this character and while some of the her methods do seem out of reach, the movie overall feels authentic.

As with the nature of the movie there are some parts that seem out of place. The family bonding with father/sister and mother's death angle, while serving a motivation to come to the island, aren't given enough attention throughout. The movie fails to convince the horror of getting stranded alone on a small lonely island throughout the night. The whole sub-plot of losing strength and loss of blood, specially without food is not convincingly portrayed here. The final act with the shark being impatient seems just too much, this dark sea mammal has got nothing to loose here and these creatures have been hunting their whole life.

This is a good movie overall and a great animal attack movie compared to what we have been getting off late. This is Blake Lively's Gravity/Martian, the duo of Jaume Collet-Sara and Anthony Jaswinski does an excellent job here to keep this well above a generic thriller.

6/10

Yeah, no.


Good pedicure?


We have a marine biologist here people!


Pure gold.

Umm, it is Blake Lively's Gravity/The Martian. That doesn't say anything about comparisons of quality, just the set-up/idea. Hell, he wasn't the first one to make the comparison (obviously), Libs has done it twice before, the first time even in this very thread.

It's Blake Lively's Phonebooth.

Chippy did it better:


Comparing it to The Martian/Gravity makes it look like it's some kind of an awards contender. This is Phonebooth / Buried / ATM territory.

The shark was played by Kiefer Sutherland.

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