More than 40 years ago, a shark film launched modern blockbuster cinema. We are talking about Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, which remains one of the most terrifying monsters in film history. An unpredictable freshwater shark is currently charging into the waters of the Seine in the Netflix film Millions of screensThere are hardly any other representatives of the genre that have been able to push us into the cinema seat or the couch in recent years.
The swimming killers migrated to the direct-to-DVD shelf in the 2010s and are causing havoc in trashy Asylum productions, for example – preferably with three or four heads, if not in the form of a whole tornado. Even the gigantic Meg and her octopus friend in Meg 2 couldn’t save the shark in the cinema from making a fool of itself at the end of the day. Enter: The Shallows by Jaume Collet-Serra.
The Shallows saved the shark movie 8 years before In the Water of the Seine
Eight years after The Shallows, there is another shark film that everyone is talking about: In the Waters of the Seine may not be as good in quality, but it impresses with its ruthless environmental message and extensive bloodbath. If you loved In the Waters of the Seine, then wait and see how much you like The Shallows.
In the middle of the 2016 summer cinema season, director Jaume Collet-Serra, who had previously attracted attention through his action films with Liam Neeson, unleashed a powerful shark film, the likes of which had perhaps not been seen in cinemas since Jaws.
This is what The Shallows is about: In the film, Nancy Adams, played by Blake Lively, ends up on a hidden beach in Mexico. Here she hopes to find the perfect wave, but secretly she has a much more important connection to this place: her mother had already visited this paradise when she was pregnant with Nancy. But when a huge shark suddenly appears, there is not much left of the supposed paradise.
But Blake Lively’s fateful trip on a surfboard has other qualities to offer – first and foremost a genre master in the director’s chair. Jaume Collet-Serra doesn’t even try to hide the B-movie premise, but lets the simple structure of his film shine through from the start.
The trailer for The Shallows gives you goosebumps:
The Shallows – Trailer (German) HD
On Netflix: A shark film that deserves the legacy of Jaws
This makes The Shallows seem extremely slim and stripped down. There is no ballast here, just pure efficiency: this type of filmmaking can sometimes seem sober and cold, almost calculated and soulless. However, Jaume Collet-Serra not only exploits tried and tested genre patterns, but also discovers exciting building blocks of cinema in these patterns.
He sees his film as a kinetic event, starting with the movement of the waves, which unfold over the course of the plot with both a liberating force and a devastating effect. Blake Lively’s lonely protagonist is conquering the sea one moment, and the next she is surrounded by it, as if she had absentmindedly walked into a trap.
The next wave can drag them into the depths forever or hurl them onto the beach. Jaume Collet-Serra knows how to make clever use of the environment before approaching the real attraction of his film. Slowly he reveals the hungry beast and cleverly plays with our expectations. What in itself contains little innovation can, however, delight when perfectly executed.
The Shallows marks the birth of Blake Lively as an action heroine
Jaume Collet-Serra moves amazingly on the fine line between craftsman and auteur: The Shallows is down-to-earth, deeply rooted in the genre and yet a completely unbridled film that takes us into all the ups and downs of this struggle for survival Although you can basically imagine all aspects, you don’t want to miss a second of this stirring event.
Sony/Netflix
The Shallows
And then in The Shallows we see Blake Lively’s birth as an action star. From 2007 to 2012 she was seen in the successful The CW series Gossip Girl, before a wide range of opportunities opened up before her. Although she was initially marginalized by Hollywood, for example in Oliver Stone’s Savages or the DC film Green Lantern, The Shallows marks a completely different breakthrough.
Sure, the shark is a fascinating cinematic attraction and is staged accordingly by Jaume Collet-Serra, but the attention it gives to Blake Lively turns The Shallows into a thrilling affair. On the one hand, there is the uncompromising physical cinema that the heroine trapped on a rock to its limitson the other hand the emotional journey.
Here, too, Jaume Collet-Serra’s simple, but all the more clear motifs dominate. A deceased mother and alienation from the family: Nancy fights not only against the shark, but against herself – and it is an absolutely gripping fight. Completely without seine and super sharks.
Just like In the Waters of the Seine, you can stream The Shallows on Netflix.