TALE OF GIRL MEETS BUOY
Basic premise produces 87 minutes of nail-biting emotional trauma
Watching Blake Lively strip down to her bikini in The Shallows, I couldn’t get one thought out of my head: What shark would want to eat her? She looks like she weighs about 100 pounds wet — which, admittedly, she is in much of this expertly crafted thriller.
Lively turns in a fantastic performance in a tale that can be summed up in three words: Woman Versus Shark. From this bare-bones, bare-cartilage premise, director Jaume Collet-Serra wrings 87 minutes of nail-biting emotional trauma.
The story opens with American vacationer Nancy (Lively) arriving at a remote beach somewhere in Mexico. A friendly local (Oscar Jaenada) has given her a lift; two more local boys in the water provide tips about submerged rocks and tides. Then she’s on her own, a friend having stayed behind at the hotel, nursing a hangover.
Nancy is a good surfer and a strong swimmer. She’s also a medical student, which you just know will come in handy at some point.
When the first bite comes, Nancy finds herself injured and stranded on a rock barely a few inches above the rising tide.
The director has spent much of his career working with Liam Neeson; he shot Unknown, NonStop and Run All Night, though ironically not The Grey, in which Neeson squares off against wolves.
The shark in this one is equally grey, single-minded and vindictive. I’m knocking off a star for some late scenes in which the beast’s sociopathic behaviour becomes just a shade too unbelievable. (That’s right; the shark jumps itself.) No need to go overboard when you’re already in the water.
Until then, Anthony Jaswinksi’s screenplay is scintillating in its pacing, and Lively keeps pace with it, expressing waves of pain, anger, frustration and resignation.
The Shallows is far more intense than Open Water, less preachy than Soul Surfer and less landlocked than Jaws. It’s that movie in which everyone — lead actress, audience members, angry animal, even the bird — gets something to chew on.