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The Shallows (2016)

*** (out of 4)

Nancy (Blake Lively) heads to a secluded beach in Mexico that her mother had visited years earlier. The plan is to surf and reflect on her life but soon she's fighting for it when she's attacked by a Great White shark.

THE SHALLOWS has been called the best shark movie since JAWS and it's easy to see why so many people are falling in love with it. Director Jaume Collet-Serra has certainly created one of the more memorable thrillers of the past few years and while there's a lot of scenes with the shark the director also manages to build up suspense without seeing it. This is certainly a movie where the director has full control of the experience and he really delivers a nice little gem.

The greatest thing about the movie is certainly it's suspense factor. Going into the movie you already know that there's a shark that is going to attack so this immediately gets you ready for what's to come. What works so well is the fact that everything goes as you'd expect but at the thirty minute mark things take a bigger turn and we get several more twists and surprises. I'm obviously not going to ruin them here but there's no doubt that there are several scenes that will have your stomach in a knot as you wait to see where the next attack is going to come from.

The director delivers all sorts of great excitement and there's no doubt that the shark attacks are wonderfully done. What's so great about them is that the shark looks 100% real and there's never any feeling that you're watching a CGI shark like DEEP BLUE SEA or some other crap movie you'd see on SyFy. The movie also works whenever the shark isn't attacking because the director builds up such a relationship between the viewer and the Nancy character that you can't help but feel suspense even when the shark isn't there.

Lively turns in a very good performance as she perfectly hits on several emotional marks. Oscar Jaenada also deserves a lot of credit for the few scenes that he is in. There are a few flaws here and there, including a horrible ending but there's no question that THE SHALLOWS delivers the goods.