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In my viewing experience, there have been only four survival thrillers over the last couple of decades that have managed to transcend the genre. She can’t get off the rock, but must come up with a plan soon because the impending high tide will submerge it. She can’t swim to safety, but can see it. (Sony)ĭuring a surfing session, the shark attacks Nancy, leaves her stranded on a rock 200 metres from the shore, alone and injured. Some of the cinematography in The Shallows is stunning - a neat contrast to the voilence. But beneath the gorgeous blue waters lurks a shark – and a particularly mean one at that. And through cinematographer Flavio Labiano’s lens, it really is. It’s paradise, says the friendly man who drives her there. Still in mourning from her mother’s death, Nancy (Blake Lively’s character) arrives at her mother’s favourite place: A beach paradise in Mexico where she, Nancy’s mom, first discovered she was pregnant with her. The audience needs to be minutely aware of the characters’ predicament, their environment, the geography of the location, every resource that’s available to them and every potential obstacle that might present itself.Īnd once again, The Shallows has it covered. The premise needs to be clearly spelled out. The second essential ingredient of every survival thriller is the set-up.
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So whenever she gets injured (which happens often), our heroine Matt Damons her way through every gash, crack and jellyfish sting.
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It clocks in at 86 minutes and the central character (played with above-the-title moviestarness by Blake Lively, who’s having a great 2016, with this, and a very graceful performance in Woody Allen’s Café Society) is a resourceful medical student. Case in point: That guy Money in Don’t Breathe. It always helps if the hunted protagonist is real, relatable and ideally, not a jerk – because who wants to spend 2 hours rooting for a selfish scumbag who leaves his friends to die and makes all the dumb moves? Answer: No one. So what makes a good survival thriller? I saved you the trouble and decided on 3 essential points. It’s not an apples to apples comparison, but he’s the man who has quietly ascended the throne that M Night Shyamalan abandoned – at least till the time Night completes his comeback (anytime now, Shyamalamadingdong). It is very likely that you do not recognise his name (a regrettable situation that will hopefully be rectified by the time you’re done reading this), but it is just as likely that you’ve seen and enjoyed at least one of his movies.Ĭollet-Serra is the reigning king of the B-movie who has most famously directed Liam Neeson in 4 of his late-period action phase films (Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night, and the upcoming The Commuter). The Shallows is the latest in the assembly line of underseen, underappreciated and altogether undervalued movies by director Jaume Collet-Serra. Let’s see how long we can last as we discuss The Shallows, a survival thriller about a shark, without bringing up Jaws.
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