ADDITION: Sony 4K UHD (April 2020): Sony transferred The Shallows to 4K UHD. This was shot in HD, mostly with Arri Alexa and Red Epic Dragon cameras. The new 4K UHD has HDR applied and the resulting image is impressive. The film, in a 2.39:1 transfer, occasionally utilizes mini-DV sequences which add a vérité feel. The Shallows 4K UHD can exhibit the weaknesses of HD filmmaking - waxy at times in-motion but less of the brightness flaring we have seen in the past. The contrast on the 4K UHD of The Shallows is adept. Bright daylight scenes and layered night sequences. Skin tones appear true and there is depth. The big appeal are the colors and the beautiful Australian tropical scenery (Lord Howe Island, Mount Tamborine) and cinematography of Flavio Martínez Labiano. The shark stuff was pretty good - mostly unseen till the conclusion and the CGI wasn't obviously and distracting - even in the 2160 resolution. It was worked into the film fairly seamlessly.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 65 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures for Patrons are available HERE.

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR),,  The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot  (software uniformly simulated HDR),,  Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR),  A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR),  2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

If you are fortunate enough to have a setup that allows for Dolby Atmos or Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Sony's 4K UHD track has outdoor, ocean and surfing sounds. The robustness of the audio handles the effects with ease. The occasionally intense score is by Marco Beltrami (A Quiet Place, 2019's Twilight Zone TV series, The Hurt Locker, 3:10 to Yuma, Snowpiercer, In the Electric Mist, 2011's The Thing) and some might notice Lou Reed's El Lado Más Bestia de la Vida (Walk On The Wild Side) performed by Albert Pla. There is a nice balance with the audio, maintaining occasional atmospheric separations (wind and surf). There are multiple optional foreign language DUBs and subtitle options including English and English (SDH) and as with all 4K UHD discs, this Sony package is Region 'Free' (Blu-ray too!) playable worldwide. 

NOTE: For Atmos many non-compliant systems will recognizes it as TrueHD 7.1, but from Wikipedia: "Because of limited bandwidth and lack of processing power, Atmos in home theaters is not a real-time mix rendered the same way as in cinemas. The substream is added to Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. This substream only represents a losslessly encoded fully object-based mix. This substream does not include all 128 objects separated. This is not a matrix-encoded channel, but a spatially-encoded digital channel. Atmos in home theaters can support 24.1.10 channel, but it is not an object-based real-time rendering. Filmmakers need to remix and render the TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks with Dolby Media Producer."

Sony's 4K UHD disc is bare-bones (no extras) but the second disc Blu-ray has some that include interesting deleted scenes (her sister sees a shark fin in the background of photos etc.), a 6-minute featurette on Shooting in the Shallows and 7.5-minute documentary-style piece on "When Sharks Attack". We get a brief exposure to "How to Build a Shark" and a video on "Finding the Perfect Beach: Lord Howe Island". These supplements have director Jaume Collet-Serra, actress Blake Lively, actor Óscar Jaenada (Carlos) and producers Lynn Harris and Matti Leshem.
 

The Shallows is quite a good 'shark film'. One of the better ones in many years (which is not saying a lot with 'sharknado' cheapos always surfacing.) It has the typical exaggerations but accepting them and having a willing suspension of disbelief can make for a suspenseful viewing. It certainly looked like Blake Lively doing some of the actual surfing but it is doubtful with stunt double, Sarah Friend, having an extensive surf background. My 4K UHD viewing was very positive and I have shown the film to a few friends and family. It's not fully 'demo' material but people love shark popcorners and it's something I will keep and revisit over time. The 4K UHD a/v is impressive and the movie has value.

Gary Tooze