Just When You Thought It Was Finally Safe..."The Shallows"

The Shallows (2016)  

Rated PG-13

Starring Blake Lively

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

The Story:

Nancy (Lively) goes out surfing at a secluded beach where her mom once tore up the waves. When a few other surfers head to shore, Nancy decides to try for one more wave.

Clearly Nancy has not grown up watching shark movies!

:)

Arguably, this is one of the best shark movies since Jaws, and I've sat through enough of them to know what I'm talking about here.

Collet-Serra breaks from his usual thrillers with Liam Neeson to direct a thriller with a killer shark instead.

Apparently Liam Neeson wasn't available to play the part of the killer shark.

So instead, this is all about Nancy and her fight for survival just a few hundred yards off shore and safety.

Thankfully she went to medical school, so she will be able to tend to her wounds to keep her from simply bleeding to death and making the movie rather boring.

The film follows very much in Spielberg's shoes by letting a lot of the killer shark go unseen, and just ratchet the tension by knowing he's out there, waiting, and there's nothing our human protagonist can do about it.

So that leaves Lively to carry the film, and she does so quite admirably. Put in a bikini and stuck on a rock for most of the film, she does her best to run the gamut of emotions and keep you enthralled with her desperate plight.

At the end, there's got to be a showdown between human and monster, and while it may be a little over-the-top, this is B-movie thriller/monster movie and the conclusion works perfectly for the film.

Overall, I was very entertained from start to finish, and someday I'll add it to the film library.

Final Grade: B+

No, "Chasing Mavericks" is Not the Sequel to Top Gun

Surf's up.  Way up!

The Story:

The inspiring true story of 15 year old Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston) who just loves to surf.  Inspired by his neighbor Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler), he wants to learn how to surf Mavericks.  Those are the giant waves that will kill normal mortals.  The two begin their training as they prepare to face the Mavericks at the end of the season.  Will Jay be ready??

Of course he will!

Now, I'm not sure how inspiring it is.  This has to be one of most downer of an endings movie I've seen in a bit.  More on that in  a second...

First, the relationship between the two surfers is an interesting dynamic.  Again, Butler's charisma on screen carries him through most roles fairly effortlessly.

Here's a man that doesn't want to give up surfing, and yet has every reason to do so.

Fate naturally will intervene later and make sure that Frosty never suits up again to stare down the Mavericks, and sadly, Frosty has to grow up and learn that lesson.

As for Jay, well, him and all of the other "teenagers" are played by kids that look older than me. ;)

But seriously, I don't for a minute believe any of them are young enough to still be in High School.  In fact, the movie has a real issue with characters and aging.

Heck, Elisabeth Shue plays Jay's mom, and she looks younger than the girlfriend!

Aside from that, the scenes on the ocean are spectacular.  If they really surfed, it looked great and believable.  If it was done CGI, it was well done and didn't look fake.

Thankfully, most of the movie is filmed on the ocean, so it keeps you involved.

Then when the movie ends, you just think to yourself... Really?  That really happened?

That's the hardest part to believe, moreso than surfing monster waves.

Shame.

Final Grade: C+, carried on Butler's shoulders and the cinematography.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again in the distant future, but won't actively seek it out.