The Shallows 2016

     Nancy goes to surf at a secluded beach in Mexico.  She has dropped out of medical school after the death of her mother from cancer.  This beach was a favorite place for her mother.  Nancy doesn’t know she has stumbled on the feeding ground of a great white shark.  She is only 200 yards from shore but she can’t reach the beach without being attacked by the shark.  She gets on top of a dead whale that the shark as been feeding on.  Then she moves to a rock in the water that will be covered with water when the tide comes in.

     It would seem that making this film would be difficult for Lively.  In the water a LOT, hair constantly wet and she does some of her own surfing.  It’s not only the shark, there is also coral waiting to cut her skin and jellyfish with stinging tentacles.  There is a LOT of tension and you don’t know what is going to happen to Nancy or the other people she encounters.  3 ½* (I liked this movie.

86 min, Drama directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada, Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge, Pablo Calva, Diego Espejel, Janelle Bailey, Ava Dean, Chelsea Moody.

Note:  Imdb 6.4 out of 10, 78% critic 60% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 3.6* out of 5* with 1176 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed on Lord Howe Island, New South Wales; Mount Tamborine, Oxenford and Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.  The level of the rock in the water varies between shots and it doesn’t seem to have a relationship to the tide?  Some of the scenes were shot in a giant swimming pool.  The seagull’s real name is Sully and he is on the rock with Nancy.  He is now living in a seagull sanctuary in Australia.