The Shallows (2016) - Movie Review

The Shallows is a film about a women who goes to this very secluded beach for surfing, where a big shark attacks and strands her in the shallows, where she must find a way to survive. The only shark attack movies you get these days are the likes of Sharknado, so this being hyped as a proper shark attack film was something I was looking forward to.

From the start, you could tell that this would be a good looking movie. Yeah it felt like a Go-Pro commercial in those starting minutes, but it looked pretty good, so who cares. The beach itself was beautiful, and the director fully utilized the location. Loved the cinematography, well, minus the slow mo shots. There were perhaps a bit too many of them.

Blake Lively looked very lively, and she did a pretty good job. There were moments where I thought she was a bit iffy, but overall she gave a good performance, especially considering the state her character is in for most of the movie. There was some backstory to her character but it wasn't that interesting, so I didn't care much whether her character lived or died, which is something you don't want to happen in a movie like this. The character I did care for was the seagull. You heard me right, it was such a nice touch to add that cute creature as a side character.

The Shark looked great, for the most part. CGI was good enough, but in scenes where they showed too much of the shark, especially in the finale, it started looking fake.

The movie has some intense sequences, that put you on the edge and inject a good amount of thrill, especially the first shark attack, which I thought was awesome. BUT they are very few and far between. And in between, you get a 127 hours type movie, but just not that good, which slows the movie down considerably. You also have to suspend your disbelief a bit too much at time, which was kinda annoying.

All in all, I was hoping for some more build up/suspense and thrill which kinda left me disappointed, BUT still a decent shark attack movie to have come out in a long long time.

7/10

Comments

Baywatch (2017) - Movie Review

Baywatch is a movie based on the old TV series of the same name. It's about a bunch of lifeguards on a beach who try to uncover drug smuggling in their area...yeah, that is the plot. It's dumb, it's stupid, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, it's not good, but it wasn't horrible either. The movie actually had some fun in it. The Rock, as always, was charismatic, funny and likable; and Zac Efron, surprisingly, was similar to that. He got ripped AF for the movie. Alexandra Daddario was fun as well, although any movie gets bonus points for just including her in my book. Priyanka Chopra was in it as well, and between her in this and Deepika Padukone in XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, Priyanka definitely was the better one. There were legit funny scenes sprinkled throughout, but there were also a shit ton of scenes that tried too hard to be hilarious but fell flat instead. Baywatch also had a large dosage...

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) - Review

This movie is based on a true story about the attack on an american embassy and a secret CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, on the 9/11 anniversary in 2012. And how a few numbers of of Ex-Soldiers managed to repel the attack. Directed by Micheal Bay, I was surprised to see him holding back his Bay-ism and deliver a straight forward focused film. The story got a long build up at the start, setting up the location, the characters and the situation. And then chaos. What I liked most about this film was the fact that you felt just as lost as the soldiers and people in this movie. The confusion, the chaos, the uncertainty, it was delivered quite nicely, creating tension and thrill. There are a lot of characters in the movie, but ultimately it is focused on these soldiers, and while the movie could have done a better job developing them, what it did was good enough in a sense that it worked for the movie. I liked em. Acting varied, with some delivering pretty good performances. Also, again wi...

John Wick 2 (2017) - Movie Review

John Wick 2 is a sequel to the 2014 surprise hit John Wick, and it follows him as he is forced to return to his former life once again. The trailers did a good job of not giving much away, so I'll keep it vague as well. The first one was great, so naturally, I was hyped for the sequel, and suffice to say it delivered where it mattered. Keanu Reeves once again reprises the role of ultimate bad-ass assassin John Wick, with different character motivations this time around, resulting in a more subdued performance than last time, which nonetheless works for the story, and it's just great seeing Keanu again in style. There are some familiar faces from the previous film like Ian McShane (Winston) and Lance Reddick (Hotel Manager), giving similarly good performances. And new ones like Laurence Fishburn, resulting in a reunion of Neo and Morpheus, which should make any Matrix fan cheer up inside, and he gave a good performance as well. One of the things that stood out to ...

Reviews Reactor

Search This Blog