What was once in the deep, is now in The Shallows. It’s not a tagline that will bring the Internet to a standstill anytime soon, but nevertheless it’s the one attached to today’s first trailer for Jaume Collet-Serra’s maritime thriller.
Teeing up a primal encounter between Blake Lively’s lonesome surfer Nancy and a marauding great white shark, the sizzle reel favors a less-is-more approach, first isolating Nancy in a picturesque landscape before unleashing the two ton behemoth into the deep blue.
Known to stray into shallow waters for optimal water temperatures, The Shallows takes a kernel of an idea for a Open Water-esque thriller and envelopes it in B-movie tropes. But with Collet-Serra calling the shots from behind the lens – he did, after all, serve up a one-two-three punch of Liam Nesson-fronted thrillers in the form of Run All Night, Unknown and airborne actioner Non-Stop – we’re quietly confident that Lively’s actioner can find an audience of its own, no matter how rough the premise.
In the taut thriller The Shallows, Nancy (Blake Lively) is surfing alone on a secluded beach when she is attacked by a great white shark and stranded just a short distance from shore. Though she is only 200 yards from her survival, getting there proves the ultimate contest of wills. It’s Jaws for a new generation.
Claiming to be “Jaws for a new generation,” The Shallows darts into theaters on June 24.
