Divine Awakening Has Been Abandoned. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 The Shallows 2025 is a smart Chinese Sci Fi movie. Its original title being Shark Beach. It packs more shark action into its opening 21 minutes than you will experience in any sharksploitation to date. In addition it has one of those beautifully rendered great white sharks that have become the template for both made for TV and cinema released Chinese movies. The Chinese Great Whites always seem faster than their western counterparts, just an observation. In addition the protagonists are always more modestly clad than their western counterparts, again just an observation. What is the prime observation from this movie though is that high concept Sci Fi themes have at last been successfully used in sharksploitation. Themes that lift this movie out of the silly shark category when viewed in the broader context of its plot. Granted the themes are not new and you could compare them to dozens of western shark and Sci Fi movies but they are refreshingly deeper dives into those themes and thus more satisfying. In addition this is the first strong female protagonist I have seen in Chinese cinema, she is a true final girl. Yes there have been other strong female characters in such Chinese sharksploitation as Huge Shark 2021 and Shark Evil 2023 but not as cool calm and collected as in this fine performance by Xiaoyun Chen. Alas no shark growl.