The Shallows

Jaume Collet-Serra, 2016

IMDB

2/5

The shark attack genre is a genre completely saturated with ridiculous premises and generous usage of CGI. Oddly enough at the top of the genre is Jaws, but it's the gold standard. There's a big drop off from there. Nothing has really come close to topping Spielberg's masterpiece that caused an entire generation of kids to be afraid of the ocean. While there is one great Jaws film and three forgettable sequels, there are 4 probably forgettable (wouldn't know, haven't seen them nor do I plan on seeing) Sharknado movies. And then we have Shark Night, Ghost Shark, Shark in Venice, and what feels like a thousand other B-Movies. What separates Jaws from the others is the craftiness of suspense-building, playing with multiple senses and not just throwing visual carnage at your face. Often these movies just take a shark and exaggerate all of the natural behaviors, ultimately making it a bloodthirsty beast that just so happens to look like a shark and live in the water.

The shark in The Shallows is no exception. The shark appears after Nancy (Blake Lively) approaches a dead whale while surfing nearby. This in turn causes the shark to become agitated and eager to defend it's feeding site. Your bullshit detectors should go off here, because one would assume that the shark would just be happy enough with the giant floating meal that is already right there for the taking rather than chase after a much smaller meal that would be more difficult to obtain.

Nancy is able to escape the attack and finds a short term refuge on top of a rock. The film then becomes a limited storytelling piece of Nancy trying to figure out how to get to shore with very little resources and one heck of a shark bite on her leg. She conveniently has a medical school past that helps her in dressing the wound. For what it is, it's not a completely horrible film that wastes 90 minutes of your life. Lively is totally serviceable with her Nancy character and does the best that can probably be done with the character. The cinematography is rather good, along with the editing. The Shallows is not breaking any new ground, but to cut it some slack, it's not really supposed to. Like a slice of decent pizza, it goes down easy enough.

Pressure

Ron Scalpello, 2015

IMDB

2/5

Scalpello's deep sea survival piece feels very much like a blend of All is Lost and Gravity in terms of concept. Basically the entire film is set in the tight pod that houses a crew of men who were sent 700 ft below the surface to repair a pipeline. After rough seas force them to abandon their duties and return to their ship, they learn that their base ship has perished in a storm above them. The limited oxygen in the ship creates a figurative life-clock that they constantly monitor. Their distress beacon can be dispatched but may not have a wide enough range to help them. Even the pressure levels at their depth can create big problems for them. The deep ocean elements basically create a situation that very much feels like being lost in space. They can't exit their vessel without enduring the harsh exterior elements. They have little to no connection with the outside world. Perhaps it's a bit more daunting than being stuck in space, because there are literally just a few hundred feet below the surface of the water right here on Earth.

To the film's credit, the struggle between the men is moderately compelling. The look of worry on their faces, and the challenges that are in front of them are enough to draw some sympathy. But there's something lacking in the film that pushes it lower in the ranks of the really good survival pictures. It's because of lack of story. You are forced to spend 90 minutes in panic with the group that you really don't know much about. You don't know anything about their lives above the surface. We aren't ever really given much backstory, other than in the form of abstract flashbacks that are more confusing than revealing. It's certainly a nice looking deep sea movie with impressive set design. But it just scratches the surface of a really good ocean movie, making it feel more Open Water than 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Leviathan

Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel, 2013

Can I Stream It?

4/5

Two artists associated with Harvard University's Sensory Ethnography Lab, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel, create this experimental documentary that focuses on a North Atlantic fishing vessel using several portable waterproof cameras.

The absence of any narrative or any cuts to interviews with crew members really leave you to your own senses with this film. A harsh purity. You realize right away that you aren't simply watching an episode of The Deadliest Catch. The vessel drifting through the black night might as well be a Ghost Ship. The resonating sound of clanking steel. The sounds of chains being pulled up and down. Muffled voices reverberating across the deck. In between the crashing waves on the ships deck you may even see a ring of cigarette smoke appear and quickly fade into the black night. The constant presence of airborne creatures flapping through the air like winged demons. The camera cuts to dead fish sliding across the floor, their eerie eyes staring straight at the camera like they are stuck in a momentary purgatory before they are beheaded. Their discarded parts will soon wash out of the ship's sides, and of course a camera will be there to capture it. Quite often the camera hangs for extended periods of time, creating a certain entrancing feeling but keeping you alert. And yet, in the midst of all of the darkness there is something truly alluring to Leviathan. 

It's a Hell barge that punishes the open seas. A soul grabber of sorts. The nameless workers gruel through their long shifts, like orange-suited Angels of Death. There aren't any smiles being spread around. They don't need to utter any words to show that their job is demanding. Close shots of the Captain's face show the toll the sea has taken. The other cuts to the various cameras mounted throughout the ship also give you a chance to change perspective. At times you feel like one of the ill-fated fish laying on the metal surface, waiting for the doom-bringers to end it all. Then you become one of the many flapping seagulls desperately trying to get their piece of the pie. Soon after you become one of the ships crew, basically lending a hand to lowering buckets to the belly of the vessel where the catch will be stored. There's a lot of moving parts that feel like a collaborative supernatural flow is at work. In a sense it's just the food chain at work. But even the sea surrounding the men feels unforgiving, almost as if everyone on the boat is stuck in some kind of purgatory. It feels like a ship that may never return to harbor. When the periodic daylight strikes it feels perturbing. Even when it does strike it feels like the sun only shines for a couple of hours before quickly fading to pure black again. Leviathan is a spooky, hypnotic work of art that puts you in a trance, only to leave you with aural memories of metal hitting metal.

Grabbers

Jon Wright, 2012


3/5

A small Irish community is is shaken up when an alien creature lands in the sea. As residents begin to vanish, a newly-paired Guard duo tries to find its weakness. Upon discovering that it feeds off of blood, they attempt to poison their own blood by consuming large amounts of alcohol at the hometown pub.

In this silly beer-soaked sci-fi horror, Grabbers possesses some of beats of similarly-themed Attack the Block but also has some of the laughs-in-the-middle-of-chaos of Shaun of the Dead. The lead characters are easy on the eyes newbie good-girl Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) and jaded lonely sad-sack Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle). Nolan can't wait to fulfill her duties as Guard while O'Shea can't wait to wade through the monotony of his day, so his liver can do the bulk of his daily work at the local watering hole. When the two are assigned together early on there's a bit of tension between the two that makes you anticipate the predictable shift to romance. It doesn't take long to introduce the antagonist alien sea-beast (the first scene actually). Introduced at first using the effective what you don't see is more scary technique, when you it does finally show itself it's not disappointing. As the town bands together to fight it off using their best tool, their ability to put down the pints. The normally quiet town gets a shot in the arm when the beast arrives, and the sense of inebriated community between them all is inviting and amusing. Although the film may push the Irish stereotypes, as soon as "The Irish Rover" starts playing in the pub you wish you were right there with them singing along, Guinness in hand.

A film that could quickly become distracting with lame CGI and poor acting really isn't at the end of the day. There's impressive camera work involved, a fitting score, and a medium-sized cast that really deliver satisfying performances. The lack of a back-story and rush to create a romance between the two Guards feels a bit far-fetched, but then again its a movie about a giant alien squid who pukes up drunkards so who is really judging it on that level? Besides, there are moments in the film where it could venture down over-used roads and it actually pulls back. For what the movie is it's good. It knows what it is, and what it needs to accomplish. 

All is Lost

J.C. Chandor, 2013


4/5

A man (Robert Redford) is alone at sea, is startled when a shipping container collides with his yacht. He is quick to mend the situation, but it's the beginning of a series of events that tests his ability to survive at sea.

It's sure to solicit comparisons to similarly-themed survival at sea films like Open Water or Cast-Away. But it has so much more heart and substance than the former and less outrageous and hefty than the latter. You could say it's simply a story about a man and his boat. A man looking for some solitude, some peace, perhaps at a refectory period in his life. And some things just get in the way. Some things like, say, a forgotten Chinese shipping container filled with knock-off sneakers. And other things, like Mother Nature displaying her fury on the sea, turning a beautiful day into a grayish hell. Perhaps it's a lesson in life, that you can't run away from your personal conflicts, because conflict can find you anywhere in the world. How you deal with them when they arise, is possibly the true test of character.

Redford, cast as "Our Man", brings his veteran acting chops to the table as a veteran yachtsman. And he does a damn good job of doing it. There's a lot of things you don't know about the man, and you're left to put a lot of the pieces together. He's used to being at sea. That's quite clear. He appears to take comfort in being alone. Why he's alone is not clearly explained. You hear his narrative early on, and you see his wedding band on his finger so you know he has a family somewhere. He's a man who likes a cocktail (or two), and perhaps that's why he's alone at sea in the first place, especially given the apologetic tone set early on. At first when the metal shipping container pierces the side of the boat, he doesn't panic. He quickly improvises, clearly putting a certain skill-set into action and improvising. Even when the storm comes, he remains collected. But he is an effective hero, because although he doesn't tell you much, you are right there with him on that boat rooting for him.

The minimalism is what makes this film so great. No dialogue, one cast member. That puts a lot of pressure on Redford, but he handles it remarkably. It seems like Chandor must have gone through 100 cameras making this film. As far as the sound goes, the score isn't so pronounced nor does it need to be. Sometimes you just hear the sound of the fierce wind blowing. But when he's in the brunt of the unforgiving storm, there is an ambient resonance that is so perfectly haunting it gives that one particular scene so much more power. That scene, without revealing what happens, is the most memorable of the film. That synergy could be the best attribute of the film, other than Redford's acting. The creaking as the boat rocks back and forth. It becomes such an integral part of the film. You sit in the cabin with him, wondering what could be coming next. The schools of fish gather below the boat, and it may as well be a clock ticking. They grow in number and size. The impending doom. A story of a man's misfortune. A reminder that water can be the basis of one's survival, or one's peril. A tale of time, or the proper use of it. Especially when every minute counts. A test of one's personal fortitude. The possibility of breaking a man.

Open Water

Chris Kentis, 2003


(REWATCHED)

2/5

Romantic couple Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) go scuba diving while on vacation in the Caribbean. After their boat miscounts the passengers it leaves without them, leaving them stranded in the shark infested waters.

It's probably a very familiar nightmare in many peoples eyes. Stuck in the ocean, not knowing whats below you in the infinite depth or not knowing when or if a safety vessel is coming for you. Do they even know that you are gone? It's an interesting idea, but this limited storytelling piece is limited in a lot of other areas. The immediate jump start of the film feels like you are getting pushed into cold water without warning. Soon you see zoom shots that are downright confusing, almost as if the button was broken on the camera and can activate at a moments notice. Why zoom in on the clamshell phone? It's amateurish. You soon feel alone (before you even leave for vacation), because the lack of character development leaves you relying on the performances of to pull you in. But they don't offer much. Ryan and Travis certainly don't deliver electrifying performances. You know their characters are busy, business-types. They never get a vacation, and they finally get one. But there's not much more there. Danny Boyle taught the world that you can paint a colorful picture with limited story as he did in 127 Hours. James Franco really delivered a complex performance and you were caught up in his dilemma. You were rooting for him. When you have a bland landscape of rippling ocean currents and the mostly periodic shark fin protruding through the surface, you really need the acting to carry the film. There are no ebbs and flows to Open Water. It has the excitement of observing a fish tank with the charm of watching a buoy float. There is so much room for improvement. In fact, similar-themed The Reef played on shark fears, and did it much better. And who cares if the shark was very obviously CGI'd. Nobody is looking for perfection there. The animatronic Jaws shark stills haunts us forty years later. But comparing Kentis to Spielberg would be like comparing Joel Schumacher to Stanley Kubrick.