THE SHALLOWS: Walks The Line Between B-Movie & Tense Survival Thriller

Nearly everything about the film The Shallows seems to indicate that you wouldn’t be at a loss for missing it in theaters. The premise of an attractive woman in turmoil, coupled with an unbelievably vicious shark – each of these stories on their own has been done time and time again.

Yet, somehow, The Shallows manages to just surpass the murky depths that most of those films sink to. It emerges as a surprisingly tense and entertaining thriller, though not one without its own set of unfortunate flaws and lost potential.

127 Hours meets Jaws

Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) is a medical student on vacation in Mexico, currently en route to a secluded beach that her own mother used to go to when she was younger in order to surf. Isolated from the world other than a few stray surfers that she meets there, it is obvious that any potential incident here would be hard to survive through.

The Shallows, much like many shark movies post-1975, was clearly influenced by Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece. Much like Jaws, the film does not immediately show the shark itself, or even that there is any reason to be concerned while being in the water. Before even hinting at the shark, we are allowed to enjoy a few musical and surfing montages, showing the carefree attitude that seems to align with the sport. But then, and almost with the faint John Williams score in mind, we see that classic image of the kicking legs from deep under the water, and we know what is about to occur.

My first issue with The Shallows was that, though nail-bitingly intense at times, it never really gets to that desperate place that you would find in a movie like 127 Hours. Nancy is far from helpless, given her medical background, yet with the situation that she is in we don’t ever gain the sense that she won’t make it. She is badly injured, lying on a rock, and although only a few hundred yards from the beach, is trapped by a blood-hungry shark. Yet, rather than allow the audience to dwell on this, the film simply flits from one action sequence to another, with little room for true dramatic moments in-between.

The action sequences themselves also suffer from a lack of danger and grittiness. Much of this is likely due to the fact that the film is only rated PG-13 instead of R, which detracts from the believable aspects of what would truly happen if a shark were to attack people. An example is when we see characters get attacked, and rather than actually see it, we simply see them disappear underwater. That’s not to say that I would have preferred a gore-fest like many modern horror films, but just a stronger sense of danger could have only have added to the already heightened tenseness of the film.

Redemptive Survival Story

The survival story typically comes as a result of a means of redemption for our main protagonist. In this case, Nancy has come to the beach in order to run away after the loss of a family member. She is unaccepting of what happened, and this isolated beach seems to be the place for her to seek solace. The shark attack, though, forces her to realize what she is really running from and what she would be missing out on if she did not survive. The story is properly orchestrated here, and although as mentioned I wish it was even more emotionally impactful such as in a film like Cast Away, it is enough to help the film rise above some of its more obvious flaws.

Blake Lively, who between this and Age of Adeline is on a positive movie trend as of late, brings a great amount of dramatic energy to the role. Since the film is essentially her sitting out on a rock for almost its entirety, she has to literally hold it together, much like James Franco in the aforementioned 127 Hours. Though the role could have provided a chance to overact, especially during a scene where, interestingly enough, she is talking directly to a camera, Lively honorably shows restraint.

Steven Seagull

Other than Lively and the other one-note, almost inevitably about-to-die characters we have one that is likely to leave an impression on the viewer despite their lack of dialogue: Steven the Seagull (Sully Seagull). Suffering from a broken wing, he is trapped on the same island as Nancy for much of the film, and is someone for her to express her dismay to.

Steven seems to play a similar role as the famous Wilson the volleyball in Cast Away, serving as the comic relief as a way to ease the tension between some of the film’s more vicious shark attack scenes. Between Black Phillip in The Witch and now Steven Seagull, this just seems be the year that animals are stepping up their acting game.

Conclusion

Above everything, The Shallows succeeds simply because it remembers what makes a good horror film: take something simple, like swimming in the ocean, and instill a primal fear into it. It’s what Spielberg did to audiences back in the ’70s, and it’s what any good horror film does to us now. Many modern horrors seem to forget this, though, instead choosing to gross us out rather than actually get under our skin.

The Shallows, despite an overall feeling of unfulfilled potential, thankfully does manage to instill that unbridled fear yet again. Thanks to director Jaume Collet-Serra, I’m probably not going swimming in the ocean anytime soon.

What did you think of The Shallows? What are some of your favorite survival stories on screen?

The Shallows is open now in the US and will be released in the UK on August 12. For all international release dates, see here.