The Shallows (15)
Blake Lively follows in the footsteps of her husband Ryan Reynolds by tackling a – predominantly – single location survivalist thriller.
But where her other half was all on his lonesome in the tense, tight-knit Buried, Lively at least has some other cast members to share time with – including a great white shark out for her blood.
She stars as surfer Nancy, who is trapped 200 yards from shore at a secluded Mexican beach and must use all of her will, smarts and determination to stay clear of her sharptoothed tormentor.
Rightly or wrongly, every shark movie from now until the end of time will be compared with Jaws and The Shallows’ effectively chilling opening scene plays out like a found-footage version of the nighttime kill which raised the curtain on Spielberg’s seminal 1975 classic.
From there, though, it all goes a little wrong for Jaume Collet-Serra’s ocean-set potboiler; perhaps no surprise given the director’s patchy record in the horror-thriller genre (House of Wax, Orphan).
His work behind the camera here is equally hit and miss. He takes us right into the heart of some spectacular waves and his use of arial and underwater shots is impressive.
It’s a pity, then, that he also chooses to shoot cheesy, Baywatch-style slo-mo shots of Lively in action, along with annoying mobile phone