The Shallows

Lively's melodramatic power remains untapped.

The Shallows is almost a good movie.

You're gonna need a bigger Blake (and you're going to get one) in Lively's enjoyably trashy shark-survival movie, the definition of summer fun.

A splash of fresh seawater in the face of a rather dismal summer movie season. It's very cheesy, which is how escapist summer cinema should be, and part of its charm is that it's not self-reflective enough to be aware of its own cheesiness.

Is "The Shallows" a thriller for the ages? No, but it's decent popcorn fare.

School's out, schlock's in - no lessons here.

Somehow, The Shallows manages to just surpass the murky depths that most of those films sink to. It emerges as a surprisingly tense and entertaining thriller, though not one without its own set of unfortunate flaws and lost potential.

It's no Jaws, but The Shallows is still a viciously, violently fun wave to ride.

At a brisk 86 minutes it never stops being entertaining,

For those of us who prefer our survival dramas bare-bones and gritty, like Open Water, The Shallows may come across as the CW version. Its photogenic slickness detracts from its terror.

This is at best a guilty pleasure; B-movie fun while it lasts.