The Reef

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

Man I had to travel to seek this one out. It only appears to be playing at one cinema in Western Australia.

First thing I will say. Awesomely realistic looking shark attack x 2. Some good real footage and some cleaver compositing and it feels very real and pretty scary. There are quite a few moments of really good suspense.

If only the characters kept their mouths shut at the start. The relationshipy drama stuff felt pretty forced. I didn't like the dialogue or the delivery. But once they are in the water it picks up a bit.

The logistical problems of shooting on the water really show themselves here. Water surface and cloud and sky continuity are the biggest culprits. The ocean and clouds can change very quickly, I'll give you that, but not from shot to shot. It must have been a bitch of a shoot. The sound came out great though.

I think a lot of the problems with the sky colour should have been fixed in the colour grading, they hardly ever match up from shot to shot. Also, and I don't know it this was because of a dim projector bulb or not, but the hi-lights were very dull looking, to a distracting point for me. It just made it look very digital. I'll have to check it out on disc to compare.

There are two good shark attack scenes but is it worth sitting through the rest of the film to get to them? Hmm, that's a tough one. Maybe. If you like that kind of thing defiantly check it out. But it doesn't offer much more than that.