The Shallows
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: June 24, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
11
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The Film StageBrian RoanJun 23, 2016
After a summer glutted with films pushing punishing, redundant set pieces on grand scales, we finally have a film that is patient, atmospheric, and that delights in delivering escalating thrills of a smaller but more valuable variety. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJun 23, 2016
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. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekDec 29, 2016
One of the most perfectly constructed pictures of the whole year, a taut, magnetic, visually splendid little package anchored by a sly star turn from Blake Lively. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 11, 2016
Collet-Serra’s rigorous craftsmanship and Lively’s muscular-in-every-sense movie-star performance – the film takes Olympic-level pleasure in watching her swimming, leaping, fighting, scrambling, enduring – ensure every attack and counterattack convulses and grips. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 24, 2016
Add to the list of actors who, beautifully and boldly, go it alone in their own survival movies the name Blake Lively. Do it without laughing, because she’s the shark here: Even though The Shallows, a tremendously entertaining bit of fluff, pits her against a computer-generated great white, the poor creature never stands a chance. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanJun 23, 2016
What could have been mere summertime chum is actually one of the more cleverly constructed B-movies in quite some time. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 23, 2016
This is an immensely entertaining millennial B-Movie, made for summertime viewing. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 23, 2016
An efficiently preposterous thriller. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 23, 2016
Lively is superb here, giving one of those hyper-focused, action-lead performances that's as much an athletic feat as an aesthetic one. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineCarson LundJun 23, 2016
What makes the film churn so forcefully for so long is Jaume Collet-Serra's visual acrobatics. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 23, 2016
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 in roughly the same amount of time it would take to watch “The Revenant,” and with little appreciable loss in adrenaline or poetry. Read full review
70
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 23, 2016
The movie is not going to make anyone forget “Jaws,” but it delivers the kind of breathless tension that justifies its existence. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJun 23, 2016
Surrounded by so many bloated, unsatisfying movies, The Shallows is as refreshing as a quick dip on a hot summer day — preferably in a pool, not the ocean. They tend to be safer and less shark-infested. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJun 28, 2016
It’s a nice bit of close-quarters cinema, offering some jolts and scares before the obligatory WTF ending. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 23, 2016
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. Too bad it’s a bit too watered down. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 25, 2016
The film’s problem is that, after chronicling Nancy’s nightmarish 12 hours on a tiny rock island, director Jaume Collet-Serra and screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski don’t know how to end things. Their choice of a resolution is preposterous and underwhelming. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshJun 23, 2016
It’s cheesy, but director Jaume Collet-Serra knows his genre thrills and builds layers of suspense and dread, along with some hypnotically beautiful aerial ocean shots. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 23, 2016
While this nailbiter sure as hell ain't swimming in the same classic waters as "Jaws," it gets the jolting job done. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 23, 2016
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. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoJun 23, 2016
If there’s one popcorn movie so far this summer that actually makes us fear for — and care for — its protagonist, this is it. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 22, 2016
Things get into the area of “Oh come on” before they’re done. But The Shallows never tries to pass itself off as deep. It’s a straight, simple and primal thriller playing with our darkest deep sea fear — getting eaten. Read full review
60
EmpireNick de SemlyenAug 15, 2016
It’s an energetic survival thriller and terrific showcase for Lively’s chops, but iffy plotting and a sloppy climax detract from the terror. Read full review
60
CineVueMartyn ConterioAug 11, 2016
Displaying an exemplary commitment to knuckle-biting tension, director Serra has made a riveting B-movie. Read full review
60
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJun 23, 2016
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, seems at least somewhat apt under the exhilarating circumstances. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasJun 23, 2016
Despite the genre and setting, this is still very much a performance piece, and Lively is more than just a pretty face and bikini bod. She has to do a lot with very little to work with other than a scene-stealing seagull. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 23, 2016
A fitfully entertaining mix of offscreen gore and Maxim-esque T&A. Read full review
58
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerJun 23, 2016
The film’s belief in and commitment to the simplicity of its premise takes it a lot farther than it might otherwise go. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJun 23, 2016
The Shallows is a very earnest woman-versus-shark film. It delivers the requisite thrills, including a surprisingly satisfying resolution. The heroine is capable; and the writers, who trap her on a rock for half the film, find ways to make her situation seem interesting. But the most important parts, the ones involving the shark, don’t feel genuine. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 23, 2016
The climactic battle of wits between human and shark leads to a conclusion that got the audience whooping pretty good. The rest of it's OK. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 23, 2016
The Shallows is diverting escapism one wishes could have cut a little deeper. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 23, 2016
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. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 23, 2016
The Shallows is pretty much a woman stranded on a rock, with a big shark between her and the shore. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat?” “We’re gonna need a smaller bikini,” more like. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithJun 23, 2016
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. Somehow the bitch got hold of a flare gun. Ever had a flare gun fired into your hide? Unpleasant. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJun 23, 2016
Will she give up? Or will she fight? Ah, who cares. Sharknado isn’t Shakespeare and The Shallows isn’t deep. School’s out, schlock’s in – no lessons here. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJun 23, 2016
Shallow is a mild word for it. Others would be silly, miscalculated, unconvincing, artless, pandering, hokey, ridiculous. Or just plain awful. Read full review
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