Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Damian Walshe-Howling, Gyton Grantley, Adrienne Pickering, Zoe Naylor | Written by Andrew Traucki
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £12.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 85 minutes | Directed by Andrew Traucki
Two guys, Matt and Luke (no, this is not about ‘80s popsters Bros) and two girls, Kate and Suzie go sailing on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia. The boat, skippered by Warren, hits a reef, ripping the hull and capsizing it. With water being taken on, the only options remaining are to swim for land or wait for the boat to sink.
While this might seem like a no-brainer, the experienced Wozza knows “what’s out there”. Yup, you guessed it, it’s those sharp-toothed, dorsal fin-tastic killing machines, sharks. He decides to try his luck on the boat while the other four take flotation devices and head off in search of dry land. With a minimum of ten miles to swim it seems like a foolhardy mission but it’s that or wait and hope for the best.
Based on a true story, as these things invariably are, The Reef bears more than a slight resemblance to Open Water in which two scuba divers are left behind by their boat after a dive trip. The most obvious difference is that Open Water was filmed on digital video whereas The Reef is shot on film. But while Open Water has a more raw feel to it, The Reef looks sharper and somehow the additional people make for a more interesting dynamic.
Anyone looking for a successor to Jaws is going to be disappointed – this is simply not that complex a film, either in terms of character, plot or even suspense. Having said that, once it gets going this is at times a genuinely tense and nerve-jangling thriller. The camerawork is largely at water surface level bringing the viewer closer to the action. Underwater shots are sparingly used and reveal worryingly little but perhaps the most impressive elements are the sharks themselves. The attack and near miss sequences are expertly crafted and the relentless nature of their presence means that although this isn’t remotely original, it is surprisingly effective.
EXTRAS ★★ A making-of featurette (23:55), and the theatrical trailer.