The Reef (2010)

Lack of good storyline.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I enjoyed the fact that the shark was not the only obstacle in this survival story. Just the thought of being stranded out at sea is terrifying enough, let alone having to deal with sharks. But even when there were no signs of any sharks, this was still frightening - even if it was just the idea there might be sharks. Being lost in the middle of the ocean is a nerve wrecking premise in itself. The acting was very good and the (real) shark was scary as hell! This was incredibly realistic, tense, highly effective, emotional and downright terrifying! In fact, this is so well made that I would probably not watch it again very soon, regardless of how good a movie it is. I mean, my nerves!

Excluding some bad acting from the characters, the movie has a pretty good story line and is thrilling on most parts and is definitely not predictable.

Of all the scary real-life situations I can imagine myself in, being stranded in shark-infested waters has got to be one of the worst, the agonising wait for something to rise unseen from the depths and rip a huge, ragged chunk out of my body being bloody terrifying. Directed by Andrew Traucki, who also helmed 'voracious croc' flick Black Water, shark thriller The Reef sees a group of unlucky Aussies faced with such a harrowing fate after their sailboat capsizes, their only hope of survival to swim to a small island on the horizon. As they make the 10-mile trek to safety, a ravenous great white shark hunts them one-by-one, dragging its terrified victims to a watery grave.As with Black Water, The Reef's effectiveness stems from its mounting threat of danger rather than actual shark attacks, which make up only a fraction of the running time and prove relatively gore-free when they happen; the terror in this film comes from what can't be seen—that lurking menace beneath the waves, waiting to strike. Traucki focuses on his characters' slowly deteriorating mental state as panic sets in, gradually cranking up the suspense and tension until the inevitable eventually happens; it's a surprisingly thrilling ride, despite the over-familiarity of the premise (see Open Water and Adrift) and the notable absence of teeth and fins for much of the time.

'The Reef' is a film that falls victim to its own setting: five friends' boat capsizes, leaving them adrift in the ocean at the mercy of sharks. That's it. The problem lies with the fact that there's little they can do in the ocean, other than float in the water and wait to be picked off.Yes, sometimes they swim a bit and one guy never stops putting on and taking off his goggles in order to look underwater for signs of Jaws' distant cousin. But that's about it. The action never really goes above that. There's also not much gore, just a lot of blood in the water.Apparently, this film was 'based on a true events.' Perhaps that's a warning that true life isn't as interesting as watching the cinema, filled with mutated monsters with laser guns for eyes, kicking over the Empire States Building. Personally, I'll stick to the slightly more unrealistic films like 'Shark Night' and 'Deep Blue Sea' than this one. The Reef may be more accurate, but it's a lot less interesting.