kluseba Are there still people who are watching shark movies in the twenty-first century? Apparently so but since there wasn't anything else on television, I still gave The Reef a shot. It was a solid movie, no more, no less. The story is as simple as it gets. Five friends go on a sailing trip but their ship capsizes. Four friends decide to swim to the next Island while one of them stays on the capsized ship. They are soon hunted down by a Great White Shark and try to survive.On the positive side, the movie has a few solid jump scares in the first half and some tense moments in the second half that keep the tension high. Secondly, the film avoids special effects and actually uses genuine shark footage which gives the film a more realistic touch since the animal isn't portrayed as a brutal beast but rather as an intelligent predator. Thirdly, even though the characters are lacking depth, they aren't stereotypical and the movie only offers one predictable scene with a hysterically screaming woman.On the negative side, the movie gets slightly dull despite its relatively short running time as patterns are particularly repetitive in the second half. The fate of one of the characters and the ship is never really explained for unknown reasons. The film ends with a boring short written epilogue instead of offering a proper conclusion as if the producers had run out of funds.In conclusion, this film is only interesting for shark movie fans and if there's really nothing else on television. The film is neither bad nor good which makes it rather forgettable.

amanda-palmer8707 Alright so its another shark movie.....People in the ocean....Deep water......Dunn..uh...dunn.uh. dunn.uh. Come on people...if your going to make a shark movie it has to be up there with jaws or 47 meters deep. The acting in it was horrible. Some were over acting then others just should not of been in the movie their part didn't fit. Over all the story line was slower than the acting. Still was not the worse movie I have seen...Would I run out and see a sequel......no. would I watch it again.....sorry no.

BA_Harrison 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.

tomsview This film is so well done you need a second viewing to appreciate all the clever little touches. When Luke (Damien Walshe-Howling), along with his offsider Warren (Kieran Darcy-Smith), are due to deliver a yacht to a customer in Indonesia, he invites three friends to join them on a cruise first: Matt (Gyton Grantley), his partner Suzie (Adrienne Pickering) and Matt's sister Kate (Zoe Naylor), Luke's old girlfriend.However, they are stranded at sea when the yacht capsizes. Under Luke's leadership, four of them decide to swim to an island over the horizon while Warren decides to stay on the overturned boat. The story follows the swimmers who are soon stalked by a great white shark.Fear of those teeth make this everyone's worst nightmare, but rather than being a simple gore-fest, the story deals with the dynamics among the swimmers, their absolute vulnerability, and how they face up to the psychological as well as the physical horror.Director Andrew Traucki threw every trick in the book at this film and he knows how to deliver a shock. Val Lewton may have had his bus, but Traucki has his splashing fish, and even the swimmers themselves when they suddenly bob up out of the water. As for the shark? Traucki takes the approach Lewton took in film after film - sometimes the best effect is the one you don't show. But when he does show the shark emerging out of the depths, it's so eerie it's enough to make you throw your swimming costume straight into the trash.The film is based on a real event, detailed on the IMDb Trivia page. However, there is one other aspect to the story that some may find interesting. Matt's character is based on Dennis Murphy, who in reality swam away from the other survivors to lure the shark away after it had severed his leg. He was posthumously awarded the Star of Courage, Australia's second highest civilian award for bravery. After seeing this movie one might wonder just how the powers-that-be actually made the decision to award the 'second' highest award - they must have had a very rarefied standard in mind to arrive at that.Superb photography and a brilliantly realised score add to a film that is one of the most edge-of-the-seat thrillers you are likely to see. But it is also an exploration of how people face stark terror, while still finding the inner strength to help each other.