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borchabob wrote:

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SPOILER ALERT***




On the first attack, when the shark blows pass them I thought that was a real shark not a composite shot or effect.

Oh, I have no doubt that it was definitely a real shark (I believe I said as much), but was it really right there knocking over the actors or was it a digital composite of the real shark and the actors made to look like they were all on top of each other?! I don't know. Either way, it was one hell of a shot!

  

SPOILERS!

I think what turned me off to THE REEF wasn't just the all-too familiar sight of Great White Shark documentary-looking footage (c'mon, we've seen this stuff for years during The Discovery Channel's SHARK WEEK and elsewhere; it isn't that unique, shocking, or out-of-the-ordinary at this point to see a Great White up close and racing toward a camera lens), but the fact that there really wasn't any great dialog or insightful looks into the minds of the characters. I felt very detached, like it was, in fact, just a cleverly edited movie.

Of course I would be terrified to be alone in the ocean with a giant shark stalking me, yes. That to me is the easy part of the film-maker's job, establishing that feeling of being in the water and helpless. The hard part, and where for me, this movie failed, is in establishing a reason to care about these people beyond the surface (get it?) situation.

This wasn't Hooper, Brody, and Quint, who we grew to love in JAWS. These were just four or five generic characters in a life/death situation. It just wasn't enough to grip me and make me care what happened to them. Not for the entire duration of a feature film, at least.

That whole tag at the end: "She was rescued a day later, he and the boat were never found, etc..." made me feel like the filmmaker expected me to be DEVASTATED by that information. In reality, I was just surprised that that was it. That was the end. Wow. In fact, my first thought was "Wait, who was the girl who lived? Which one was she, again?".

In any case, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. I wish I had.

oldmanster wrote:

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I think what turned me off to THE REEF wasn't just the all-too familiar sight of Great White Shark documentary-looking footage (c'mon, we've seen this stuff for years during The Discovery Channel's SHARK WEEK and elsewhere; it isn't that unique, shocking, or out-of-the-ordinary at this point to see a Great White up close and racing toward a camera lens),

Not everyone watches Discovery Channel, or is enamored of Big Critter documentaries, Doug. I know I don't and I'm not. I suspect there are others here who haven't glutted themselves on When Large Sea Creatures Go Wild shows.

... Reed 

There was a HUGE billboard for SHARK WEEK along the Henry Hudson Parkway here in NYC for the entire month of July. On it was a HUGE close-up of a Great White Shark. I think more people watch this sort of thing and are familiar with these images than you may think, Reed-A-Rino. It's not exactly an obscure un-publicized PBS show that is only on one day of the year at 4am.  It's SHARK WEEK, dammit! It's an American summer TV tradition!  

Anyway, we delivered the bomb...