"It Is Paradise..."
Looking at the back catalogue of director Jaume Collet-Serra brings with it an overt sense of trepidation. I mean House of Wax, come one, who on earth thought it was a good idea to cast Paris Hilton in anything, whilst Goal 2 and the Liam Neeson helmed trilogy of Unkonwn, Non-Stop and Run All Night don't exactly ring the bells of excellence. With The Shallows however, Collet-Serra has brought to life "Jaws for the 21st century" as many have called it, yet my memory of Jaws was most definitely not one that included a rather silly screenplay, an overbearing sense of tin-eared dialogue and camera work so transfixed with its' leading star that it verges on the edge of creepiness. You've got it folks, The Shallows is ironically, rather shallow and inept, a survival drama with no sense of threat, no sense of danger whatsoever and whose only character with more than a one dimensional feel to it is a flippin' seagull. That's right Lively, you aren't the hottest bird in this particular movie.
So The Shallows expects us to believe that a supposedly intelligent med-school drop-out would continue with her journey into the unknown titular secret beach without her friend who feels its' more important to hang out with cliched hot holiday dude. No, I don't believe that. Secondly, the camera is so transfixed upon said med-school drop-out that I felt a restraining order was only a court case away, with the constant close-ups and wide-angled focusing of Lively just plain creepy akin to the recent treatment of the character of Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. Thirdly, every single character is just there for the sake of it. No smooth characterisation whatsoever, just mashed up sentiment which is enforced in order to feel for our beloved surfer chick. Does it work? No, but does the film work aside from it? No. Although the underwater shots are well done and Steven Seagull is the best thing in it, The Shallows is just meh, and meh is not how I would summarise my memory of Jaws.
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