THE SHALLOWS (China 2025) - MINI REVIEW
Another decent Chinese shark movie!
A woman wakes up in the middle of the ocean on a surfboard with no memory of how she got there. Suddenly, a shark emerges from the water and eats her. In a gasp, she wakes up to find herself in the middle of the ocean on a surfboard, with a hungry shark closing in on her.
What’s going on here?
This movie shares the same name as the 2016 Blake Lively movie, and while the trailer for this film states it is based on the film, the similarities aren’t that obvious.
Just like the Chinese remake of Sharktopus that used the creature and military weapon concept but created an original story, this movie does the same - keeping the elements of the shark and the survival component but adding in a sci-fi twist about Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.
The end result is pretty decent. Two competing stories run co-currently where our intrepid protagonist, who we later find out is a doctor specialising in AI but is disabled from the waist down, must survive the virtual world while her team members in the real-world work out how they can bring her back safely after the simulation starts to go a bit rogue.
Clocking in at 73 minutes, there is entertainment a-plenty in this title, with a rather bloodthirsty opening 20 or so minutes as our doctor is repeatedly killed by the shark. The movie gets a little philosophical towards the middle, well about as philosophical as a Chinese web movie could get, which makes for a rather drab middle third, but picks up the pace when the shark is re-introduced into the movie.
Those of you expecting Jaws or a remake The Shallows will be disappointed. The rest of you will enjoy staring at our lovely doctor’s very shapely posterior throughout the film.
This is an easy 3 out of 5.
Genre Chinese Shark Movie
Director Xia Ban Chang
Starring Xiaoyun Chen, Sinan Li
Original Title 鲨滩, 鲨滩中国版
Alternative Title The Shallows, Shark Beach China Edition
Country of Origin China
Release Date 16 January 2025
