The Reef

Jessie Savini

Review 1

The Reef: 2010. Director: Andrew Traucki. Writer: Andrew Traucki. Producer: Michael Robertson. Cast: Kieran Darcy-Smith, Gyton Grantley, Damian Walshe-Howling, Zoe Naylor, Adrienne Pickering. Running time: 89 minutes.

I decided to see The Reef because I have a bizarre attraction to movies involving sharks, and this particular movie sparked my interest. Though strange, these dangerous and mysterious animals fascinate me for some reason unknown to even myself. It may be my curiosity of the threat that these creatures offer, the thrilling component shark attack movies present, or my interest in the unknown that still surrounds sharks. Either way, I had high expectations for this movie; the first screening of the film was full before I was able to get a seat, so I decided it must be a film worth seeing. The film was a bit of a disappointment since I had high expectations, but it was still a descent movie for a person who enjoys a thrilling story about shark attacks.

Based on true events, The Reef is an action thriller that tells the story of four friends embarking on the trip of a lifetime - spending a week sailing a yacht in the Great Barrier Reef. When their yacht suddenly capsizes on the second day of the trip, they are stuck with a choice: either staying on the sinking yacht and waiting for help, or swimming to a small island with twelve miles of open sea between the boat and the island. Deciding to swim for help, the four friends leave the boat’s stubborn captain behind on the sinking yacht and begin their journey in search of safety. When the decision is made to swim, the two girls of the group panic about the thought of miles in open water and the fear of what lurks beneath them, but the men in the group, their love interests, comfort them. These relationships intertwine the feelings of lust and love throughout the plot of the story, with the main focus on passionate feelings from two past lovers that are reignited during the trip.

An element of suspense mirroring that of a psychological thriller exposes itself when the friends realize they cannot see their yacht in the distance anymore, and they suddenly begin to envision what creatures are lurking in the deep water surrounding them. After several false sightings of sharks that stem from their unsettled nerves, the group truly finds themselves in grave danger: they are in the presence of a hungry fifteen foot great white shark. The shark circles around the group several times threatening to attack, and then it seemingly swims away. The rest of the movie captures their attempt to stay alive and get to safety while being stalked by a great white shark. The shark eventually kills the friends one by one, until only one person makes it to the island unharmed. Commentary at the end of the movie informs the audience that neither the yacht nor the boat’s captain was ever found despite an extensive search, and that the sole survivor was found alive by fishermen the day after she reached the island.

The plot resembles the storyline of a stereotypical shark movie which has been created time and time again with minute changes in plot for each film; the account of the true story in The Reef has a remarkably similar plot to movies like Open Water and Deep Blue Sea just to name a few. For the clichéd shark attack story that it presents, the film was overall made well and was an effective thriller, but I had a few complaints about what could have been done to better the film. First off, the movie was overly dramatic several times when it didn’t need to be. Within the first two minutes after the boat capsized, one of the friends went on a rant about the group needing to save themselves by swimming to land or else they would die of dehydration and no one would ever find their bodies. Though it was only one scene, it seemed unnecessary and agitated me. Also, the characters looked too aesthetically perfect to be realistic; after snorkeling all say in the ocean they still had perfect hair and makeup – which I know to be unrealistic from personal experience. The only other thing that bothered me was the actual shark. A synopsis of the movie says the shark is a “fifteen foot great white” but the characters in the movie never described the shark in any more detail than saying it was “big - really big”. It also did not look fifteen feet long on the screen and most of the shots of the shark were poor computer generated images which were not entirely convincing.

On the positive side the film was effective and accomplished the goal of an action/adventure thriller it desires because I was anxious, restless, and frightened throughout the movie. I was on the edge of my seat most of the movie. Director Andrew Traucki was effective in providing startling and unexpected shocks which kept the movie from being too predictable and as a result I must have jumped in my seat upwards of ten times. The combination of underwater camera angles of the group splashing in fear and ominous music contributed to the anxious feeling I got while watching the movie; these elements were not overdone to the point where it was ridiculous and laughable, but they were used just enough to obtain the desired effect on the audience.

Overall, the film is entertaining if nothing else. I would not consider it to be particularly mentally stimulating, but it is engaging. I left the film feeling content with what I had seen – not happy, not distressed, but satisfied with the content of the story and the way it was revealed. It was not too gory, the attacks were not especially graphic, and the love story did not take away from the main theme of the film. The movie must have done a good job of scaring me, though, because I honestly had a nightmare about sharks the night after I watched it, and because of that I will probably not be getting in the ocean anytime soon.