THE SHALLOWS | 06.24.16 | Sony | final domestic gross: $55,124,043

[somebody85]

They rated it

2.6/5 and 2.4/5

They rated Warcraft

3.1/5 and 3/5

 

This? Worse then Warcraft? lol 

And as far as fear of things in the water, I'm more afraid of gators and poisonous water snakes. I loved sharks growing up. Bullsharks are way worse then Great Whites.

[baumer]

I'm scared of anything in the water that can bite me.

[somebody85]

Critics are so different from one another. They all loved it and said it's so much fun. Completely agree with Ben, that a lot of the dialogue wasn't needed. Blake was good enough to not need to say some of the ex positional dialogue. I see why she would say these lines at points because we all talk to ourselves (at least I think we do lol) but she easily could have carried it with way less lines. She was great in this with just her expressions alone.

Then Chris is saying he wanted more of a backstory to know her character and Schmoes are saying she was bland. Can never please everyone!

Edited June 25, 2016 by somebody85

[Nova]

As I've said the only thing that bothered me was the ending, the last scene, but I'm not going to completely trash a film because of that lol it was a well paced thriller. And I can't take one of the reviewers seriously when he goes "Lively's been shoved down our throats." I was unaware that like 2 movies in 4 years is being shoved down our throats but okay. But this film is not for everyone. Some people will hate it but I think it's OW and how it's performing speaks volumes as to how the GA is reacting to it. 

[Nova]

Besides how can you hate on a film that stars Blake Lively and Steven Seagull. They're the best new duo in Hollywood. 

[Nova]

Poor millennial has no idea what she's missing out on

 

[DAJK]

My dad absolutely loves to surf, but Jaws terrified him as a kid. He refuses to see this one.

"No... no... no this one looks... stupid. This movie looks so... stupid."

 

Poor guy refuses to admit he's scared

[Nova]

1 minute ago, DAJK said:

My dad absolutely loves to surf, but Jaws terrified him as a kid. He refuses to see this one.

"No... no... no this one looks... stupid. This movie looks so... stupid."

 

Poor guy refuses to admit he's scared

It makes me question every decision that I've made about going into the ocean. Is it Jaws level? Not quite. But it certainly gets the job done to make sure my ass isn't getting into the ocean. If someone wants to call it Jaws for the younger generation, I wouldn't be opposed to it. 

[Taylor]

Saw it last night. Loved it. The end was indeed a bit off tonally speaking, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment at all.

 

It got a B+ CinemaScore: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4200&p=.htm

[Nova]

One reviewer has said The Shallows was drawn out and too lengthy. I wonder what he would say about the 2.5 hour blockbuster snore fests that are released every year. 

[Nova]

4 minutes ago, BKB IS CAPTAIN AMERICA said:

 

Um, doesn't a "B+" in the world of Cinemascore mean it's not being received all that well or not??? Mixed???

Depends on the genre of film, I think. But you can see it's getting positive WOM because of its increase in its Friday's projections and looking at its social media positive/negative ratio. 

[75Live]

I just got back from seeing this and I mostly enjoyed it.  I wouldn't say it was great, but definitely enjoyable and I like what they did.  I wouldn't go over a B+ for it, but that's still pretty good.  Glad I saw it and it didn't let me down  

[MovieMan89]

5 hours ago, Nova said:

One reviewer has said The Shallows was drawn out and too lengthy. I wonder what he would say about the 2.5 hour blockbuster snore fests that are released every year. 

Bwahahaha, it's like 80 mins w/o credits. And furthermore it feels more like an hour to watch, so it's certainly not drawn out. 

[somebody85]

Alright rant time regarding Open Water, since it's the last real shark movie that came out before The Shallows.
 

I was kind of shocked to see the audience score compared to the critics score for this on RT. It also only has a 5.7 on IMDB.

So I decided to revisit this after seeing The Shallows last night after I hadn't seen it in years. I guessed it might not hold up as well as I remember it....I was so wrong.

So yeah, Baumer I completely take back what I said about sharks not scaring me because this movie definitely does. There is a reason it's still left an imprint on me from seeing it all those years ago. Honestly, most horror doesn't really do much for me anymore because I've seen it all but this movie disturbs me in the same way that The Exorcist does. I'm not afraid of ghosts that slam doors but I'm afraid of some incompetent overseas business leaving me stranded in the middle of the ocean. And this was I believe based on a true story?

 

I'm really sad people call this movie boring because it kind of explains why horror movies nowadays have to have something constantly going on in order to get people to pay attention.

Open Water is almost like a snuff film and I think that's really the reason people don't like it. It's too realistic and people try to view it as a movie instead of as an experience. They think of all the things they would have done differently in that situation when they would have been just as fucked as Susan and Daniel.

Either that or they have never been in the open ocean before. I live in FL (like I've said a lot). What happens in that movie is exactly what would happen in that situation. There is nothing they could have done differently that would have saved them. Unlike being trapped in the desert or wilderness, they have no chance. No way to get food, no way to get water, they are just stuck. Boats that look close are really 5 or 10 miles away if not further and that's not accounting for the current. 

Being in the water for that long would be exhausting and the constant up and down would make you drowsy. The movie nailed the realism of it.

I think the movie works in the same way that Halloween or It Follows does (another two movies people call slow). Even knowing what happens, I was constantly looking at the water for signs of grey rewatching it. If a shark attack were to happen in the open ocean it wouldn't be like Jaws, Deep Blue Sea or The Shallows. It would be like this. The sharks would get curious at first and then realize there was no danger to attack. And then they finally would.

Most of the criticisms:

• It's boring and takes too long to get going - Really? You think watching two people stuck with absolutely no help fighting to live while sharks close in is boring? I saw one person mention that this idea was interesting for 20 minutes and then get old? They must not have been paying attention to all the phases the characters go through in the span of being stuck, which are completely realistic.

01) Bewilderment - Where is the boat? 
02) Denial - This can't be happening 
03) Reassurance - The boat will be back 
04) Realization -- The boat will not be back 
05) Anger - Why did THEY do this to us (boat crew)? 
06) Blame - Why did YOU do this to US (hurried vacation)? 
07) Fear - Loss of control, the unknown (the sharks closing in) 
08) Panic - Loss of self (sharks attack) 
09) Grieving - (she holds him) 
10) Indifference - ("he" is gone, she releases "body") 
11) Hopelessness - She's alone (sees sharks pull body under) 
12) Acceptance - Knows she's next (tons of sharks) 
13) Peace - All fear is gone (her empty stare) 
14) Empowerment - takes back control (won't let sharks kill her) 
15) Release - Suicide (releases BC and sinks) 

That is really intriguing stuff when you think about it. The sharks are also constantly appearing randomly in the waves or splashing out of the water. This couple eventually realize that the boat isn't coming back and they are probably going to die. It would be fucking horrible. 
 

• The acting sucks and the characters are annoying - Jesus these people completely missed the point of the movie. The acting wasn't supposed to be good. It was supposed to be like watching regular people and not actors. I hate to break it to you but if Jennifer Lawrence and Tom Hanks were stuck stranded in the middle of the ocean they wouldn't be any more compelling. They would probably act exactly like Daniel and Susan do. Again, this is why I think this movie makes people too uncomfortable. It's too hard to think about. Daniel even had shark knowledge from Shark Week and that did jack shit for him. 
• The camera work is low quality and sucks - Again this was meant to look like a home video and not a glossy movie. It's supposed to be filmed like a realistic vacation gone wrong. Put a camera from 2003 out in the ocean and this is what it would look like. It wouldn't look high definition or like you were watching a film. The camerawork of this movie is what makes it so terrifying too. It goes up and down with the waves. In doing so, it feels like you are out there with them and can completely relate to the situation if you've ever been on a snorkeling trip or a diving adventure. That is really what the open ocean looks like away from civilization. It's nothing but water and sky. If the film had veered away from this type of camerawork on flashbacks or whatever, it wouldn't have felt as real. I don't know what people wanted.
• They could have swam to the boats, swam away from the sharks or Susan could have waited to be found - No they couldn't. Those boats were so far away. They would have literally exhausted themselves before even getting close and there is a chance the boats could be pulling away as they were swimming towards them. Susan had also been in the water for nearly 2 days and had lost all hope that anyone was coming for her. She was starving along with being completely dehydrated. She witnessed her husband die and was completely alone. She probably was in a state of delirium and wasn't thinking clearly like we can from watching this at home. She saw the sharks surrounding her and wanted to go out in a less violent way then being torn apart. The helicopter would not have located her quickly had she survived either. This is a huge open ocean and she is a tiny person in the water. It would be hard to even see her body from the air without some sort of signal.
• There wasn't enough shark action - Good! That made it more realistic. I loved how you could never see what was in the water or you would only get brief flashes. If this were to happen in real life a shark wouldn't immediately attack them like in The Shallows. They would eventually see prey that couldn't escape and start to attack it slowly. They wouldn't rip them apart. They would wait for them to get weak. 
• There's no way they could have been left behind - Yeah incompetent businesses and people exist. Something like this really could happen. I'm pretty sure it actually did.

To be honest this movie scares me more then Jaws. The likelihood of a giant monster shark eating you in the ocean is low. Getting stranded due to human error with no escape is a lot more likely. Plenty of soldiers died at sea this way in wars too.

I just don't get how people can't get this movie or call it one of the worst ever. I guess they wanted some Hollywood story and that's not what it was aiming to be.
 

It aims to make you feel the helplessness of the situation using an everyday couple and knocks it out of the park. For those who haven't watched it in a long time, I highly recommend revisiting it or giving it another chance.
 

The Shallows is great Hollywood stuff and a lot of fun. Open Water is just unsettling to watch. It's not fun at all and is actual real horror.

End Rant.

Edited June 26, 2016 by somebody85

[baumer]

Wow!  Terrific post @somebody85...and I agree with you on every point.  Open Water is the scariest film I have ever seen....JAWS is the best film ever made but Open Water fucking ruined me.  Here is my review...and thank you for sharing your thoughts......I'm so glad you took the time to express your appreciation for Open Water:

 

 

 

OPEN WATER (2004) Based on true events, Open Water is the story of Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis), a workaholic couple that is in desperate need of a vacation. But as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. They inadvertently get left behind while scuba diving and they are now stranded in shark-infested waters in the middle of the ocean.

I had been dying to see Open Water ever since I first heard about the raves it got at the Sundance Film Festival. Being scared of the ocean, I found the premise terrifying. I first saw Jaws when I was about ten years old and it has stuck with me. To put it mildly, it scared the you know what out of me. Jaws is one of the most primal movies out there and it not only attacks your conscious, but your subconscious as well. I know that the chance of getting attacked by any shark, let alone a Great White the size of Bruce are slim to none, but that hasn't stopped me from refraining to set foot in the ocean for 20 years. So having said that, you can begin to understand how and why Open Water is the scariest film I have ever seen. It attacked me at every level, eventually metamorphosing me into a child clinging to the chair beside me and lifting my feet off the ground as I watched the film in the theater. Primal emotions are surreal because you forget that you are human and it leaves you at the mercy of what haunts you. Sharks haunt me, and they eat away at me, literally and figuratively. This is a film that gets inside of you and it won't let go. Fear of the unknown has to be the worst state of mind, and this film captures the desperation of what it is like to be isolated, helpless, and at the mercy of nature and the wild. On a subconscious and conscious level, this is a mind bending experience.

While Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis have done a few little roles here and there before, this is the movie that will really get them recognized. They have to carry the entire movie on their shoulders, and are on screen 95% of the time. The movie relies on their performances in order for the movie to work, and the movie couldn't have turned out better, as they give exceptionally realistic performances. They have a great chemistry together, and are really believable as a couple.

They behave like a couple. They have moments of love and moments of sheer frustration. When the situation first presents itself they go through the natural cornucopia of emotions that one would expect. But when the situation becomes more dire, they rely on each other for emotional and physical support and in some macabre kind of way, they realize just how much they truly need each other. It is sad that it took a harrowing situation like this to make them realize how much they need each other, but this ultimately brings them closer together.

Having said all of that, what really makes this film tick is the scenes with the sharks. Without putting it to you in any flowery terms, straight up, this movie is scary as hell! To imagine the helpless feeling as you see a fin break water next to you. To vicariously experience what it would be like to have that sandpaper like skin brush up against you is stuff that nightmares are made of. And to put yourself in the two characters situation and realize truly pernicious their future is, it makes the film scarier than any film I have been privy to. Jaws is the best film ever made in my opinion, but this film is scarier simply because to imagine what these went through is an absolute haunting and onerous exercise in horror. They are alone, they are scared and they might as well be a million miles from home.

Before seeing it I had heard that some loved the ending and some hated it. I think the ending is appropriate. How else could it end. This is a movie that separates itself from Hollywood and its machinations to ruin good film. This film has its own ideas and with no outside interference, they get it right. Without giving away too much, if this was bastardized by Hollywood, there would have been a happy ending, maybe with gunfire or explosions. Not this film though, and these film makers. They get it right. They end it on the only note that would have made the film work. This film is as close to a primal perfection of fear as one can imagine.

Open Water isn't for everyone. The main people that will dislike it are young, immature teens and other closed-minded people that were expecting a violent shark attack movie. It's not like that at all. It's not very bloody, and it's not constant shark action. This is more of a thoughtful film that focuses more on what is implied than what is actually happening. Hitchcock once said about a film, and I am paraphrasing here of course, but something to the effect of, "a bomb explodes killing everyone in a movie, that is horrific, but a bomb is under a table, ticking, the timer shown going down from 60 seconds...59 seconds...58 seconds....now that is mysterious and that adds tension." The point is, you don't need the carnage to be effective. Just like Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are very short on blood and gore, but they work effectively because of what is implied. Your mind does the rest. This film epitomizes that theory.

Open Water is an unforgettable film that is not to be missed.

9 out of 10, and again, the scariest film I have ever seen.

[Nova]

5 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

Bwahahaha, it's like 80 mins w/o credits. And furthermore it feels more like an hour to watch, so it's certainly not drawn out. 

When I saw that review I questioned whether we had watched the same film or not. 

[Yandereprime101189]

Open Water is a very divisive film. Part of that stems from the advertisement campaign, which gave it the impression that it was going to be shark action heavy. And I remember the critics were hyping it up, saying it was the best shark film since Jaws. The problem with that, Jaws and Open Water are two different beasts (Jaws is a rousing film while Open Water is more survival/tragedy), and Open Water really shouldn't be compared to Jaws.

 

Funny enough, The Shallows is likely what people expected Open Water to be like back in the day.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Yandereprime101189

[somebody85]

1 hour ago, Baumer said:

Wow!  Terrific post @somebody85...and I agree with you on every point.  Open Water is the scariest film I have ever seen....JAWS is the best film ever made but Open Water fucking ruined me.  Here is my review...and thank you for sharing your thoughts......I'm so glad you took the time to express your appreciation for Open Water:

 

 

 

OPEN WATER (2004) Based on true events, Open Water is the story of Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis), a workaholic couple that is in desperate need of a vacation. But as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. They inadvertently get left behind while scuba diving and they are now stranded in shark-infested waters in the middle of the ocean.

I had been dying to see Open Water ever since I first heard about the raves it got at the Sundance Film Festival. Being scared of the ocean, I found the premise terrifying. I first saw Jaws when I was about ten years old and it has stuck with me. To put it mildly, it scared the you know what out of me. Jaws is one of the most primal movies out there and it not only attacks your conscious, but your subconscious as well. I know that the chance of getting attacked by any shark, let alone a Great White the size of Bruce are slim to none, but that hasn't stopped me from refraining to set foot in the ocean for 20 years. So having said that, you can begin to understand how and why Open Water is the scariest film I have ever seen. It attacked me at every level, eventually metamorphosing me into a child clinging to the chair beside me and lifting my feet off the ground as I watched the film in the theater. Primal emotions are surreal because you forget that you are human and it leaves you at the mercy of what haunts you. Sharks haunt me, and they eat away at me, literally and figuratively. This is a film that gets inside of you and it won't let go. Fear of the unknown has to be the worst state of mind, and this film captures the desperation of what it is like to be isolated, helpless, and at the mercy of nature and the wild. On a subconscious and conscious level, this is a mind bending experience.

While Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis have done a few little roles here and there before, this is the movie that will really get them recognized. They have to carry the entire movie on their shoulders, and are on screen 95% of the time. The movie relies on their performances in order for the movie to work, and the movie couldn't have turned out better, as they give exceptionally realistic performances. They have a great chemistry together, and are really believable as a couple.

They behave like a couple. They have moments of love and moments of sheer frustration. When the situation first presents itself they go through the natural cornucopia of emotions that one would expect. But when the situation becomes more dire, they rely on each other for emotional and physical support and in some macabre kind of way, they realize just how much they truly need each other. It is sad that it took a harrowing situation like this to make them realize how much they need each other, but this ultimately brings them closer together.

Having said all of that, what really makes this film tick is the scenes with the sharks. Without putting it to you in any flowery terms, straight up, this movie is scary as hell! To imagine the helpless feeling as you see a fin break water next to you. To vicariously experience what it would be like to have that sandpaper like skin brush up against you is stuff that nightmares are made of. And to put yourself in the two characters situation and realize truly pernicious their future is, it makes the film scarier than any film I have been privy to. Jaws is the best film ever made in my opinion, but this film is scarier simply because to imagine what these went through is an absolute haunting and onerous exercise in horror. They are alone, they are scared and they might as well be a million miles from home.

Before seeing it I had heard that some loved the ending and some hated it. I think the ending is appropriate. How else could it end. This is a movie that separates itself from Hollywood and its machinations to ruin good film. This film has its own ideas and with no outside interference, they get it right. Without giving away too much, if this was bastardized by Hollywood, there would have been a happy ending, maybe with gunfire or explosions. Not this film though, and these film makers. They get it right. They end it on the only note that would have made the film work. This film is as close to a primal perfection of fear as one can imagine.

Open Water isn't for everyone. The main people that will dislike it are young, immature teens and other closed-minded people that were expecting a violent shark attack movie. It's not like that at all. It's not very bloody, and it's not constant shark action. This is more of a thoughtful film that focuses more on what is implied than what is actually happening. Hitchcock once said about a film, and I am paraphrasing here of course, but something to the effect of, "a bomb explodes killing everyone in a movie, that is horrific, but a bomb is under a table, ticking, the timer shown going down from 60 seconds...59 seconds...58 seconds....now that is mysterious and that adds tension." The point is, you don't need the carnage to be effective. Just like Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are very short on blood and gore, but they work effectively because of what is implied. Your mind does the rest. This film epitomizes that theory.

Open Water is an unforgettable film that is not to be missed.

9 out of 10, and again, the scariest film I have ever seen.

Great review!

Yeah for sure man, as far as shark movies go and horror in general, it really doesn't get much worse. I figured this one scared you too.

Torture porn is frightening to some people but that's a lot less likely to happen. Ghosts and demons are frightening to people but that's also a lot less likely to happen. Slashers are frightening to some people but again that stuff is really only in the movies.

And at least in those scenarios you have a chance to fight back. A chance to escape.

But if you were trapped in the middle of the ocean, you wouldn't be able to do anything but hope for the best. Hope that someone knows you are missing. If that doesn't happen then the realization that sharks are in the water would set in very quickly. The thought of being eaten alive would be terrifying.

These characters wouldn't act like actors. They would act like real people. You could put the best actors in the world out there and they would act the same in that situation. I just don't get how people missed that.

That's why the final scene is so unsettling in Open Water during the credits. They show a bloody shark and all it's teeth. So to reel it all in, they drive home that fear of what was under the couple the whole time. Rows and rows of razor sharp teeth. There would be no help, nowhere to go, and nothing you could do about it. I don't blame Susan for drowning herself (if she didn't get eaten there).
 

If you go to the beach here and lookout towards the gulf at night you can see ships way in the distance. They look like they are only a few streets down but in reality they are probably 20 miles out. That's how far those ships were that Susan and Daniel were seeing. Screaming and whistling wouldn't have done a thing. They my swell have been in space.

I'm still shocked at the low rating it got from actual audiences. Most critics appreciated it.

I know it's not for everybody and some people have never been in the open sea, so I guess it's harder for them to relate outside of what they see on TV. But I have and it would be one of the worst ways to go.

I would easily rate it an A. Maybe the characters could have had different personalities? But as this situation went on it wouldn't have mattered, they would have started to react like Daniel and Susan did. That's what makes this movie so unsettling. You feel like it's happening.

And as far as the fear of what's beneath you. Yeah they nailed that here. Seriously amazing camerawork with showing the sharks with very little musical cues. They never let the audience breathe a sigh of relief because they were always there. When we see glimpses of them, we don't know if they'll attack or when they'll attack but we know if they decide to, this couple has nowhere to go.

I agree, this is one of the scariest and unsettling movies I've ever seen. And again I'm a huge horror fan.
 

Edited June 26, 2016 by somebody85

[somebody85]

39 minutes ago, Yandereprime101189 said:

Open Water is a very divisive film. Part of that stems from the advertisement campaign, which gave it the impression that it was going to be shark action heavy. And I remember the critics were hyping it up, saying it was the best shark film since Jaws. The problem with that, Jaws and Open Water are two different beasts (Jaws is a rousing film while Open Water is more survival/tragedy), and Open Water really shouldn't be compared to Jaws.

 

Funny enough, The Shallows is likely what people expected Open Water to be like back in the day.

Yeah I remember the campaign but I'll agree with the critics here. I do think it's the best shark film since Jaws. The shark scenes in Open Water are more frightening then they are in Jaws and The Shallows because they feel real. We don't always see them but when Daniel looks down into the water and a shark is right in his face, we know how close the danger is. There is now this urgency and we don't know when that clock is going to run out. But we do know that Daniel got bit and is bleeding so that time is almost up. We know there's no place for them to swim too to get away. There's no weapon for them to use to defend themselves.

It makes you infuriated at the diving company.

And that night scene in the rain is so brilliantly done. A lot of Hollywood movies would have had Daniel survive that night but that wouldn't have been realistic.

But yeah they are two very different movies. I wish more people could appreciate Open Water though.

And lol about those people, in the open ocean there are very few buoys or anything like that. There's no reefs to swim to. There's just water and sky. And whatever is below you.

Edited June 26, 2016 by somebody85

[UrosepsisFace]

Just watched a nearly sold out 7PM showing for Shallows. Stars of the movie: Blake Lively's ass, the nature, and the bird. If this movie makes bank, Lively's ass and the cinematographer who followed it so closely, at so many different angles, should get a raise.