The Shallows (2016)

"The Shallows" is a "Jaws" reinvented for the 21st century, but made on a 19th century budget. Not meaning that's a bad move...

Nancy, a student in the medical school considering dropping her college degree, finds a hidden beach in a sunny day, somewhere on the coasts of Mexico. Main target: surfing. Unfortunately, if for getting in the water there's no problem, there's a great white shark who doesn't agree about getting out. And like this we have a movie, where Nancy gets stranded on an isolated rock a couple hundred meters away from shore. If she manages to swim that far or not ... well, that's what's the movie about.

Blake Lively does what I think to be her best part so far in a movie (and no matter what you might think :) that's an objective statement). She's basically carrying the movie onward from the beginning to the end .. well, the shark has some screen presence too. The cast is quite reduced, talking about the budget, and the action takes place over an area that doesn't span more than a couple hundred meters, plus the movie is quite short. The effects and the editing count a lot though, enough that you can't think that this is a cheap production. Yes, the story's simple and is pretty far fetched sometimes ... But what shark movies are totally believable? It's fun, is catch as any survival story, and has enough sun to compensate the rain outside ;) So, it's worth watching ...

Rating: 4 out of 5