The Shallows's reviews
Media reviews
El Periódico
Collet-Serra manages for years impeccable springs of intrigue and action. Here also (...) it's pure and marine terror, measured with mathematical (...) accuracy.
Indiewire
Collet-Serra ensures that we feel the risk of every stroke between his heroine and her safety. The action is visceral and immediate, but crucially contextualized by a helpful array of wide shots and bird?s-eye views.
The Guardian
What could have been mere summertime chum is actually one of the more cleverly constructed B-movies in quite some time.
Roger Ebert
Lively is superb here, giving one of those hyper-focused, action-lead performances that's as much an athletic feat as an aesthetic one.
El Mundo
The seventh feature Jaume Collet-Serra is by far the best of his films. Thriller suspense, terror and existentialist drama cohabit in a minimalist film.
The Wrap
'The Shallows' isn?t one for the ages, but it?s a skillful diversion for summertime moviegoers and will no doubt make a popular slumber-party scare generator, particularly for those close to a coastline.
Los Angeles Times
On its own unpretentious, unapologetically pleasure-seeking terms, ?The Shallows? has enough to recommend it ? not least the fact that you could watch it twice (...).
Entertainment Weekly
'The Shallows' could have been a really fun B-movie. And in a lot of ways, it is. There?s no denying that it has some great jump-scares and scratches a certain summer itch we all get this time of year.
El País
Miniature in which the director, without wishing to amend any flat, pays the inevitable tribute to 'Jaws' (1975) Spielberg, before embarking on an exercise in minimalist tension.
Rolling Stone
While this nailbiter sure as hell ain't swimming in the same classic waters as "Jaws," it gets the jolting job done.
The Washington Post
Is 'The Shallows' a thriller for the ages? No, but it?s decent popcorn fare. It?s about as deep as the titular lagoon on which it?s set, but the breakers promise a short and heart-pounding ride, with no wipeout.
New York Times
Mr. Collet-Serra?s busy visual style, which uses a lot of fast-cutting, willy-nilly variations between slow and fast motion, and illogical but vivid point-of-view shots.
The A.V. Club
Anthony Jaswinski?s screenplay bogs down this no-brainer survival premise (?get off the rock and don?t die?) with needless backstory and inchoate themes.
Cinemanía
It may sound great nonsense but perhaps the sum of the microdespropósitos to avoid a total collapse and make the film a while Series B acceptable.
Variety
At times, it?s hard to tell whether The Shallows is trying to sell a tropical vacation, that Sony Xperia phone or a fantasy date with Lively herself, but in any case, the film looks virtually indistinguishable from a slick, high-end commercial.
Screen Daily
Sufficiently tense yet fatally cheesy, 'The Shallows' sports plenty of B-movie gusto, but this woman-versus-shark thriller never fully rises above its predictable survival storyline.
New York Post
The girl kept talking and strategizing as heavy string music played on the soundtrack. This was doubly weird because: a) it made me feel like the bad guy; and b) life doesn?t normally have a soundtrack.
The Hollywood Reporter
Shallow is a mild word for it. Others would be silly, miscalculated, unconvincing, artless, pandering, hokey, ridiculous. Or just plain awful.