The Reef - 3 stars out of 10

The Reef - 3 stars out of 10

"The Reef" succeeds at building suspense but fails at delivering the thrills that we expect in a shark horror film.  The scripting of this film seems very confused, almost improvisatory.  They spent the first 5 minutes trying to develop the characters, then they just sort of gave up on that.  Then they took the tension approach, but the "reaching into a dark hole trying to find something so that the audience thinks that a shark is about to bite their hand off but they just end up pulling out the thing that they were looking for" gag got old after the third time.  Then there is also the lack of sharks.  I mean, it took a solid 45 minutes for the first shark to appear.  Since the character development was basically non-existent and the first half of the movie is "Our ship just wrecked... should we stay on board or attempt to swim for safety?", I would actually really like to give this film a second try, starting at the 40-minute mark and just watching the second half when all of the good stuff occurs.  The reason that I'm not completely writing this film off is because its sharks are much more realistic than "Shark Night 3D" and the circumstances are much more feasible (like, no Deliverance hicks that are filming shark attacks for Shark Week on the Discovery Channel).  "The Reef" stays true to the old philosophy that "the unseen is scarier than what you do see."  It builds suspense through the paranoia of its victims and then only needs to show the shark for a few seconds at the climax of the attack.  This film is built on tension, but it lacks the characters, storyline, and bite of "Jaws."  I would stay away from "The Reef" unless you decide to just watch the second half for a few shark thrills.