The Shallows Movie Review

There are two places that become most people’s vacation destinations, the mountains and the beach. For those who like a natural setting with a nice atmosphere and not too crowded, they will love going to the mountains.

While those who like crowds will prefer to go to the beach. Ease of access makes the beach a more frequent choice than the mountains.

The beach is the choice of many people because of the atmosphere that makes people feel at home for a long time. There is so much beauty in the ocean that cannot be found on land. But there is not only beauty, but there can be dangerous dangers such as the presence of sharks. That’s what happened in the movie The Shallows. Want to know summaries and reviews? Let’s listen together!

Synopsis of The Shallows

  • Release year 2016
  • Genres Action, Drama, Horror
  • Director Jaume Collet-Serra
  • Cast Blake Lively Oscar Jaenada Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo

Nancy Adams, a medical student, decided to take a leave of absence to ease the pain of her mother’s death from cancer. The target is a beach in Mexico. She went there after seeing a picture of her mother on vacation there while she was hugging Nancy.

Nancy did not go to Mexico alone, but with some of her friends. Since her friends were partying the night before, she chose to go it alone. Along the way, she meets a local named Carlos. The friendly Carlos offered to put Nancy in his car and drop her off near the beach.

At the beach, Nancy meets two other people who are also surfing in the same place. After surfing for a few hours, he decided to take a break and video call with his sister, Chloe. Then he called his father. The father asks Nancy to return home soon and move on with life.

The Shallows

Nancy, who is still suffering from her mother’s abandonment, begins to think about leaving medical school. Before leaving, Nancy decided to go surfing again.

He saw a rather large whale carcass. While surfing, the board was bitten on the leg by a shark. He was forced to climb onto a whale carcass to avoid being attacked by a shark.

The shark hit the whales and forced Nancy to swim to the rocks in the middle of the sea. Nancy uses a rope from her surfboard to stop the bleeding in her leg.

He also used the jewelry he wore to sew up the wound so it wouldn’t come open. Some locals went to the beach but did not help because they thought he was intentionally floating at sea.

Nancy has to spend the night alone stuck in the middle of the sea. A seagull landed on the rock where Nancy was standing. The bird was injured after being attacked by a shark. He named the bird Steven Seagull. In the morning, a drunk local came to the beach.

Instead of helping, the man stole Nancy’s luggage, which was stored on the beach. The man then tries to get Nancy’s surfboard but is killed by a shark.

A few hours later, two locals arrived and found Nancy in an accident. They swim to save Nancy but are attacked by sharks until they both die.

One of them has a GoPro camera on his helmet. The camera turns to Nancy. Starting to feel desperate, Nancy recorded herself using a GoPro to greet her brother and father. He also explained the conditions and location at that time. The waves start to rise and Nancy won’t be able to stay on it anymore.

After the treatment and release Steven Seagull uses his waves to reach the beach, he intends to swim out into the middle of the sea so he can be safe from the crashing waves and shark attacks. Can Nancy do it? The hallmark of a movie like this is its tension, perfect for those of you who like thrills.

The Shallows . movie review

Great execution of a simple story

The beach, which is normally a fun place to see the sights, was changed to a scary location in the movie The Shallows. Nearly the entire film is set on the beach with a relatively simple story, which is Nancy’s attempt to save herself from a shark attack. Remarkably, the simplicity has been successfully taken to be an interesting sight.

Review The Shallows

In 87 minutes we will have a beautiful beach image. Behind that beauty, Nancy struggles to survive.

Sheltering a dead whale, moving to a rock and then to a sign in the middle of the sea with an injured leg is a special feature in this film. The tension is not distributed harshly throughout the film but is placed in the right place so that we can feel how terrible it is to be in Nancy’s place.

In terms of effects, the shark looks realistic. Even in terms of characters, it is made to be convincing without overdoing it, showing it too much. In terms of cinematography, the shot from above deserves a higher rating. The tension with underwater sharks is really stressful. We can easily get lost in the story.

Enhancing the emotional aspect

Watching The Shallows not only ignites our adrenaline to watch Nancy’s struggles, but it’s also quite emotionally moving. From the beginning, how sad Nancy was after being abandoned by her mother. Her relationship with her father cooled as Nancy began to rethink her goals and desires in life.

movie The Shallows

In the midst of this sadness, Nancy must survive the shark attack. There were also local residents who, instead of helping, stole Nancy’s things.

Steven Seagull’s existence is not meaningless, but plays an important role in changing Nancy’s perspective on life. The scene where he handles the bird and then releases it onto the beach shows how in the midst of this emergency he saw a glimmer of hope.

Great performance by Blake Lively

The deepening of Nancy’s character is given the right part. Not as profound as what is based in this film is the tension, but not too shallow either.

All of his experiences on the beach are rooted in his vision of life conveyed in a unique way, which is an attempt to survive. Pretty interesting isn’t it? A perspective on life is conveyed when the person is near death.

The Shallows Review

Throughout most of the film, Blake Lively’s character as Nancy is the main focus. Blake appeared beautiful as Nancy who looked happy at first but couldn’t hide her sadness big enough.

It then becomes fun to glide before changing in the second and third rounds of the film by showing various expressions from sadness, pain, disbelief to courage.

The Shallows isn’t the first movie to feature sharks as the mainstay of the story. Previously there was Jaws which is considered as one of the classic movies in this genre. Like survival movies? Check out The Shallows! If you have seen it, you can share your review or recommend similar movies in the comment column!

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