The Shallows - Liked It

Stars: Blake Lively
Run Time: 1 hour, 26 minutes

A new take on the Jaws movie, we have The Shallows. This film stars Blake Lively as a young woman, Nancy, who has found a private beach on which her mother once surfed. Because of her mother's recent death, Nancy has decided to go out this trip to surf the waves and remember her mother. Near the end of the day, she goes out for one more surf and comes across a dead whale in the ocean. With this, the viewers see the shark arrive, but Nancy has no clue yet. Finally when she does realize, she must climb on top of the whale carcass to avoid from being attacked. 

Now, Nancy knows that she cannot stay on the whale... so she swims to the nearest rock which will soon become an "island" as the other surfers told her during the low tide. During her swim, the shark gets her good in the leg. She makes it to the rock, and there she stays for most of the movie. Eventually she sees people on the beach and tries for them to get help. One was a drunk and got in the water... I won't spoil what happened to him. The next morning the other surfers come back to the beach and she tries to warn them about the shark. I won't spoil what happened to them either. With high tide coming to wash away her little safe haven of a rock, she must swim to the buoy. 

The final scenes of the movie are the most action packed. The shark is on its last hoorah to eat Nancy, but Nancy isn't about to give up. She has been able to record herself on a digital camera and holds out hope that someone ashore will find it. 
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Being honest, I've never seen Jaws and have had no urge to until now. I really liked this movie. I liked Blake Lively in her role and I thought she did a pretty good job acting out the feelings. The shark itself I didn't like too much, I didn't think the CGI was very well put together. But the scenes where you can see a glimpse of the shark through the water and not up close, those I liked. Especially the first scene with it while she is catching her last wave. That was pretty cool looking I thought. Though it was hard to watch, I also kind of liked how she used her jewelry and clothing to "fix" the shark bite. I also liked the last scene that included the shark. Smart girl. Oh, and the bird that became her friend. Loved it. ​
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Throughout the entire movie I was rooting for Nancy to overcome the shark and make it home to her family, and I felt like it had just enough tension to keep me wanting more. I'm going to give this movie a "Liked It" rating. Blake was good and I liked the story line along with all the obstacles that came along with it. I would recommend this movie for sure if you are looking for something that's slightly scary but mostly thrilling. ​
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