Steven Spielberg
978 connections found
Filmography
Jurassic Park 1993 
Ready Player One 2018 
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 
1941 1979 
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 
War of the Worlds 2005 
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 
Catch Me If You Can 2002 
Minority Report 2002 
Schindler's List 1993 
Jaws 1975 
The Post 2017 
Saving Private Ryan 1998 
Amistad 1997 
Munich 2005 
Duel 1971 
Hook 1991 
The Sugarland Express 1974 
The Color Purple 1985 
Empire of the Sun 1987 
Always 1989 
War Horse 2011 
Bridge of Spies 2015 
Lincoln 2012 
A.I. Artificial Intelligence 2001 
The Fabelmans 2022 
West Side Story 2021 
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008 
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989 
The Adventures of Tintin 2011 
The BFG 2016 
The Terminal 2004 
The Lost World: Jurassic Park 1997 
Amblin' 1968 
Disclosure Day 2026 View:
Connections, in both directions
Dangerous Animals (2025)
Directed by Sean Byrne
influenced by Jaws (1975), Duel (1971), Jurassic Park (1993)
Themes
It would be tempting to say that “Dangerous Animals” is “Silence of the Lambs” via “Jaws.”
Dangerous Animals is no Jaws (1975). What films are?
…la icónica «Jaws» (1985)…
…the more entertainingly unpredictable aquatic hunters of shark horrors like The Meg, The Shallows and, of course, Jaws…
Para los que siempre han deseado ver en el chiringuito un "mashup" de 'Tiburón', 'Saw' y 'El silencio de los corderos'…
It’s a gruesomely clever mash-up of Jaws, The Silence of the Lambs, and Ozploitation grit…
The End of Oak Street (2026)
Directed by David Robert Mitchell
influenced by Jurassic Park (1993), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Disclosure Day (2026), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Themes Visuals
…the reality of everything happening in the foreground feels raw in the way the original Jurassic Park turned predictably deadly.
Had 6-year-old Sy gone to this in the theatres instead of Jurassic Park, I don’t think I’d have developed my passion for dinosaur films.
It may boast the same PG-13 rating as the Jurassic World, series but Oak Street makes all its kills look like an episode of Barney & Friends.
It doesn’t hurt that it might be the best “Jurassic Park” movie since the original.
Seventy percent of The End of Oak Street plays like a love letter to Jurassic Park and Spielberg at best…
The Jurassic Park franchise in particular struggled with inserting the prehistoric beasts into an urban setting…
Anyone who remembers Steven Spielberg's debut with "Duel" will see its influence here.
There will be comparisons to Steven Spielberg�s Duel, and they aren�t too far off.
In another gripping scene, Fuller and Lewis's car is squished up against a tree by the evil truck driver's cab (calling to mind Steven Spielberg's 1971 feature debut, the excellent Duel ).
The script owes too many debts to be repaid; it siphons fuel freely from Steven Spielberg's classic "Duel," Richard Franklin's Australian thriller "Road Games," Jonathan Mostow's underrated "Breakdown" and, in a fake nail-chewing climax, "The Silence of the Lambs."
Its menacing trucker theme reminded me most of Steven Spielberg's 1971 film "Duel," though this one is played more for laughs.
To a certain extent, it's a ripoff of the famous 1971 Spielberg television movie "Duel," but it also neatly blends in elements of both the current teen-scream genre and the 1990s' neo-films-noir that made Dahl's name.
Death of a Unicorn (2025)
Directed by Alex Scharfman
influenced by Jurassic Park (1993), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jaws (1975), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Visuals Themes
…some ineffectual jump scares and a few chase sequences that crib heavily from Jurassic Park without adding much to the whole “we’re being hunted by CGI beasts” routine.
…as with a lot of post-90s monster movies, the film pays several homages to Jurassic Park – including a notable giant-eye-against-the-jeep-window shot…
It feels like a fantasy Jurassic Park with a sprinkle of Orca skewering those who profit in the evilest of ways.
…evoking Xenomorphian shadows with their horse-y snouts and the Velociraptors of the Spielbergian cine-imagination across a series of cat-and-mouse games…
The dark silhouettes of a massive otherworldly creature skulking around the research facility are genuinely chilling and evoke the famous velociraptor sequence from Jurassic Park (1993).
To quote Jurassic Park’s Dr. Sattler: “You never had control; that’s the illusion.”
It tries to emulate better fictional newsroom works like Steven Spielberg's The Post, Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom, and Tom McCarthy's Spotlight…
The Spielberg film this most resembles is “The Post,” in its flurry of trying to act responsibly amid the incredible pressures of a breaking-news environment.
It’s also the perfect companion piece to Steven Spielberg’s controversial “Munich,” which depicted the Israeli response to the Olympic massacre…
You could call it a cousin to “Munich” and “One Day in September,”…
…it’s hard not to miss the messy agony of Steven Spielberg’s Munich…
…including Steven Spielberg’s highly regarded 2005 thriller “Munich.”
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
influenced The Fabelmans (2022), Disclosure Day (2026)
Visuals Themes
…another (no less thrilling) homage to Spielberg’s beloved train wreck sequence from Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth…
…that film found the anxious young protagonist being led by his parents to his first movie, DeMille’s traumatic (for him) The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)…
…the large freight-train set piece is the film’s most impressive spectacle, echoing the childhood terror and wonder of “The Greatest Show on Earth” that Spielberg already mythologized in “The Fabelmans.”
…even at its most kinetic—as in a train-crash sequence that, like The Fabelmans, betrays a love for The Greatest Show on Earth…
…the same image that so transfixed Sammy Fabelman in The Greatest Show on Earth that it sparked his lifelong fascination with cinema…
It’s all true to Spielberg’s life, including three younger sisters, his childhood film projects referenced by name, and his early fear of movies, as seen when Sammy’s parents carefully explain how the pictures work before blowing his mind with The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).
The Wild One (1953)
Directed by László Benedek
influenced Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Characters
Most of the in-jokes, in fact, are either aimed squarely at fanboys (a cheeky reference to an episode of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series featuring Pancho Villa) or movie nerds (Mutt making his entrance looking exactly like Marlon Brando in The Wild One ), with little for anyone else other than convoluted archeological mumbo-jumbo meant only to move the characters from one overly elaborate chase to the next.
The Eisenhower-era highlight reel (war veteran Indy’s true blue patriotic valor gets shown off when our hero offers “I Like Ike” as his potential last words) is at its lamest when Shia LaBeouf’s greaser motorcyclist, Mutt, is introduced dressed and posed like Marlon Brando from The Wild One, a desperate and disproportional equating of two attractive young actors that cries out for a Lloyd Bentsen-inspired putdown.
Mutt is Marlon Brando's "The Wild One" character put into the frame of a "Back to the Future" era Michael J. Fox.
His journey reunites him with Marion Ravenwood (three cheers for the return of Raiders' Karen Allen) and also allows him to share adventures with a brash young greaser (Shia LaBeouf, amusingly making his entrance like Marlon Brando in The Wild One) and a loony old professor (John Hurt).
"What are you, like, 80?" asks young Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a ducktailed dropout armed with a comb and a switchblade, and an apparent jones for Marlon Brando in "The Wild One."
Neither is it such a great improvement to saddle Indy with an equally surly young sidekick, Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf, who's a dead ringer for Marlon Brando in "The Wild One."
Mercy (2026)
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
influenced by Minority Report (2002), Ready Player One (2018)
and Steven Spielberg by name
Visuals Themes
On Spielberg, rather than any one film
…trailing in the decades-old footsteps of Steven Spielberg…
On the films
In 2002, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg teamed up to showcase the power and dangers of technology in Minority Report. Now, amid a fury of AI advancement, Chris Pratt and Timur Bekmambetov look to do the same with their muted and eventually unconscionable Mercy.
Minority Report, which this movie very badly wants to replicate, was released in 2002, and it looks better and actually grapples with similar themes.
Where "RoboCop" or "Minority Report" had the teeth to hold systems to account and the creative vision to tell an entertaining story along the way, "Mercy" has the temerity to do neither.
Perhaps it may be the only months away dystopian future that recalls MINORITY REPORT, ROBOCOP, and the various incarnations of JUDGE DREDD (comics and films) that makes the plot seem fresh.
The influence of Minority Report looms heavily throughout, from the visual language to the central idea of pre-emptive justice.
If this were meant as a cautionary tale about technology run amok, prepare yourself for a cavalcade of half measures that puts "Ready Player One" and it's bold "Eh, I guess we can turn our phones off twice a week" shrug of a conclusion to shame.
The Mummy (1999)
Directed by Stephen Sommers
influenced by Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Jurassic Park (1993)
and Steven Spielberg by name
Visuals Themes
On Spielberg, rather than any one film
Director Sommers cribs a lot from Steven Spielberg…
On the films
The golden glow that pervades the film -- gorgeous desert sunsets, gilded temples, warm torchlight -- isn't just symbolic of a longing for a J. Peterman fantasy world of biplanes, khakis, and worn leather satchels hiding priceless historical treasures; it's also indicative of a nostalgia for the great rollicking movies of the past, not just the obvious Raiders of the Lost Ark but also classic adventures like Lawrence of Arabia .
Aspiring to combine the mystical epic adventure of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with the larger-than-life Love Never Dies impetus of "Dracula," this "Mummy" comes off more like the monster of Frankenstein--a rudimentarily-stitched aggregation of elements that comes alive in spite of itself.
Advance quotes from studio-friendly reviewers trumpet The Mummy as being an exciting thrill-ride in the tradition of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
…like the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark rolling through the set of a screwball comedy…
…the obvious Raiders of the Lost Ark…
Think of "Indiana Jones" meeting the 1930s Boris Karloff film "The Mummy," and you'll understand my interpretation.
All the President's Men (1976)
Directed by Alan J. Pakula
influenced The Post (2017), Disclosure Day (2026)
Themes
The movie adopts the language of ’70s conspiracy thrillers like “Three Days of the Condor” and “All the President’s Men,”…
No less than in All the President’s Men—or The X-Files—Disclosure Day insists that the truth is out there.
It’s as if Spielberg came across a script written in the heyday of All The President’s Men and The China Syndrome…
Lo que consigue es un filme que muy bien podría proyectarse en una doble tanda con All the President’s Men, en el que rinde tributo a uno de sus héroes cinematográficos, el gran Sidney Lumet, al tiempo que produce uno de los mejores largometrajes de este periodo actual de su filmografía, predominado por historias basadas en hechos verídicos.
You could see The Post (and the filmmakers clearly do) as a kind of prequel to All the President’s Men.
Movie fans will enjoy seeing Hanks as Bradlee, the iconic news figure who was previously immortalized by Jason Robards in 1976’s “All the President’s Men,” and Streep’s performance is meant to underscore a theme of female empowerment (Graham was also the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company).
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Directed by John Ford
influenced The Fabelmans (2022)
Visuals
Before long 10 years have passed and the older teen Sammy (played by Gabriel LaBelle) is making all sorts of films, using his friends including Westerns inspired after seeing 1962’s John Ford classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Branagh did an homage to that one as well in Belfast), and World War II epics among others.
We then jump in time to a teenage Sammy, who moves with his family to Arizona and casts all his Boy Scout pals in a makeshift Western inspired by John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”
Fast forward 10 years, and Sam (now played by an excellent Gabriel LaBelle) is inspired to make a Western after seeing John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”
The subsequent, increasingly ambitious projects that Sam takes on—including a mummy picture, a western inspired in part by John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance , and then a WWII epic titled Escape to Nowhere —all suggest the formation of the kind of showmanship and instinct for popular entertainment that would go on to solidify Spielberg’s legend.
He makes juvenile movies starring his sisters, and moves into short features starring his Boy Scout chums—a western inspired by “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and a war picture called “Escape to Nowhere” (both of which reflect titles actually made by Spielberg).
Paul (2011)
Directed by Greg Mottola
influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Duel (1971)
Plot Visuals
Although it’s a broad takeoff on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., it’s not in the superficial Scary Movie mode.
Tongue-in-cheek references to Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), James Cameron's "Aliens" (1986) and other classic sci-fi flicks are consistently witty.
"Paul," which he cowrote with Nick Frost, his costar of those two films, is less a parody than a buddy bromance mired in adolescent homophobia with a lot of direct references to "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," as if just the idea of those films, or the casting of "Aliens'" Sigourney Weaver, should be a crackup.
He bathes the entirety of Paul in a patina of cinematic recall, channeling everything from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to ET, while Pegg and Frost are busy throwing in everything else (big brownie points for the Mac and Me shout-out!).
He takes credit for The X Files ("Mulder was my idea!") and for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.
From that drought arises the continual callbacks to genre standards, especially E.T. (Paul's candy of choice, the ship that arrives in the third act) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (a firework called the "Five Tones," the location of where the ship arrives in the third act), leading to the Spielberg vocal cameo, which is set in an Army warehouse that looks a lot like the one at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark (It's no wonder he agreed to it).
Nope (2022)
Directed by Jordan Peele
influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park (1993), War of the Worlds (2005), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Duel (1971), 1941 (1979), Disclosure Day (2026)
Themes Visuals
The handful of truly great alien films we’ve witnessed in the last 15 years, notably Arrival, Nope (also Universal!), Under the Skin and Super 8 (which Spielberg produced), only serve to underline how unfortunate this feels.
Peele has said “Nope” was inspired by movies like “King Kong” and “Jurassic Park;” films that “really deal with the human addiction to spectacle.”
Spielberg also loves combining awe and dread, as seen in his earlier titles (“Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and even “E.T.”) and some of his later works (“Jurassic Park” and “War of the Worlds”); these sources of terror are also impressive unknowns that instill wonder as well as panic.
The shot recalls so many in Spielberg’s body of work that concentrates on the awed spectator rather than what caused such astonishment—think the terrified images of Chief Brody in Jaws when he sees the shark or when Alan and Ellie first see a dinosaur in Jurassic Park (1993).
Whether you’re in awe or anemic to Peele’s retreading of Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Jaws,” “Jurassic Park,” etc., or his playful references to Shyamalan’s “Signs” there’s no doubt that Peele’s deference for those that came before and vision for his own films is committed.
It is a thriller in the summer blockbuster mode, in the spirit of Jaws , the original Jurassic Park and Twister .
Arrival (2016)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Disclosure Day (2026), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), War of the Worlds (2005), Schindler's List (1993), Jurassic Park (1993)
Themes Plot
Much like Arrival, this is an alien film that is ultimately about communication, understanding, and empathy.
Seeing this really makes me appreciate Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival even more. It skillfully pivots from the typical alien story clichés to present a sophisticated, nuanced, deeply emotional, and character-focused narrative.
The handful of truly great alien films we’ve witnessed in the last 15 years, notably Arrival, Nope (also Universal!), Under the Skin and Super 8 (which Spielberg produced), only serve to underline how unfortunate this feels.
This latest effort bears a striking resemblance to Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, which is not a bad thing at all.
What happens is more like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," the Steven Spielberg classic in which communication is the key.
Instead, Villeneuve's film asserts its place among far more nuanced interplanetary explorations such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact and the more ponderous (and far less humanistic) Interstellar, as well as in a venerable tradition of cerebral literary sci-fi.
Midnight Special (2016)
Directed by Jeff Nichols
influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Sugarland Express (1974), Duel (1971), Jaws (1975), Minority Report (2002), War of the Worlds (2005)
Visuals Characters Themes
Echoes of Spielberg ("E.T.," "The Sugarland Express," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind") and John Carpenter ("Starman") can be heard in the film, but Nichols is his own plain-spoken artist.
He wants to be Roy (or at least Claude Lacombe) in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Nichols is obviously aiming for Spielberg, not just E.T. but Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Mixing the paranormal premise of “Firestarter” with the conspiracy-fueled paranoia of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the film has a cornucopia of good ideas and many shivery scenes, but never adds up to a completely convincing story.
Thematically, Arkansas-born writer-director Jeff Nichols’ fourth feature draws capably from the models of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.” and “Starman,” as well as Nichols’ own affinity for spare widescreen compositions akin to Clint Eastwood movies of that filmmaking era.
Until then, however, “Midnight Special” is, despite its sometimes glacial pace, a tense, chilling ride that that also manages to be challenging and thought-provoking, with echoes of “E.T.” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” turned on their head.
Interstellar (2014)
Directed by Christopher Nolan
influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Themes Visuals
Here is a film that provides plenty of 70mm action (cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot the whole thing on film with IMAX cameras he calls “the world’s heaviest Go-Pros”), as well as references both obvious and veiled to such influential sci-fi and/or science touchstones as 2001: A Space Odyssey , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , The Right Stuff and the best speculative fiction of to-the-stars maestro Robert A. Heinlein.
There is sincerity in the homage paid by its writer-director, Christopher Nolan, to two masterpieces of science-fiction cinema, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Interstellar, which was originally a Steven Spielberg project (some of his markers, notably the ’70s-style farmhouse, remain), has an emotional core that recalls Spielberg’s critique of his own film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Richard Dreyfuss should have never left his family.
The rustic homestead, where Cooper and his father-in-law (John Lithgow) drink beer on the porch, recalls the Indiana home of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" — an early hint that "Interstellar" — moving and sentimental — will be more Spielberg (who was once attached to direct) than Kubrick.
No, Nolan's end result here will not and should not be mentioned in the same breath as "2001: A Space Odyssey" or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Astronauts Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway journey to a distant galaxy on a desperate mission to save humanity in this brainy, heartfelt, gorgeous and flawlessly acted sci-fi epic — inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey,’’ “Close Encounters of the Third Kind’’ and less likely sources such as “The Grapes of Wrath.’’
Super 8 (2011)
Directed by J.J. Abrams
influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park (1993), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), War of the Worlds (2005), 1941 (1979), Duel (1971), Amblin' (1968), Always (1989), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), The Sugarland Express (1974), Hook (1991), Minority Report (2002), Munich (2005), Schindler's List (1993)
Themes Visuals
There are also elements of his "darker" efforts - Jaws , Jurassic Park , War of the Worlds - and nods to some of the titles Spielberg leant his name to in a production capacity - Poltergeist, Gremlins, The Goonies.
From its mysterious otherworldly presence with unknown motives to the late ’70s suburban kids whose vast imaginations are swept up in its path, “Super 8” contains echoes of “E.T.,” “Close Encounters,” “Jurassic Park” and even less essential entries in the Spielberg canon, like “War of the Worlds.”
Spielberg himself might have been able to weave this into something coherent (indeed, strong elements of Close Enounters�, The Goonies, Jurassic Park, E.T., Jaws, and Poltergeist can be detected here), but the combination never gels.
The thing is, J.J. Abrams adored the same Steven Spielberg classics that we all did, and if youâ??ve seen E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jurassic Park and Jaws, then you have a rough idea of whatâ??s in store.
The train scene is one for the ages, and the bit in the bus is this generation’s “Jurassic Park” moment.
It’s like Abrams wanted to make Jaws (or Jurassic Park) and E.T. at the same time.
Us (2019)
Directed by Jordan Peele
influenced by Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Jurassic Park (1993)
Peele, an unapologetic horror fanatic, nods to those films and dozens more in Us, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jaws and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
The town is as warm as Amity, in “Jaws” (1975), and you have to go back to “The Birds” (1963) to see such enthusiastic gulls.
It also comes from spotting the many cinematic references — a kid in a mask named Jason, a “Jaws” T-shirt on a crowded beach — from a filmmaker with an effortless command of the horror lexicon.
The movie, which lacks the tight concept and the satiric gut-punch of Get Out, opens expertly, coming at us all sunny, unsettling and sideways, with double-edged pop-culture references including Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Jaws, Luniz's song “I Got Five On it” and the 1980s homelessness and hunger fund drive Hands Across America.
A beach scene that closes the first act of Us is an explicit homage to similarly set scenes in Jaws – a character is wearing a tee-shirt advertising that film, just so you know Peele is in on the gag – and, as with the original, it finishes not with a reveal of the monster, just an escalation of our apprehension.
He is not a one-hit wonder in the same way that Jaws proved Spielberg to be an elevated genre storyteller.
The Meg (2018)
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
influenced by Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park (1993)
Plot Themes
The marketing behind The Meg pitches its shark as Jaws times 50, with trailers showcasing CGI eye candy of a massive man-eater swimming just below hundreds of unaware swimmers.
Something of a mix between the obvious Jaws influence and the more abstract Armageddon elements, The Meg delivers as many scares as a PG-13 film can handle these days.
As for Jaume Collet-Serra’s recent shark thriller The Shallows (2016) or the ne plus ultra of the genre, Jaws (1975), considered an overbudget debacle during its shoot, they are but small fry next to The Meg, both in budget and in featured fish—Steven Spielberg’s Great White, at an estimated 25 feet, would be chum for the mighty Meg.
Stripped of the script's distractions and allowed to go at full throttle for at least the last 60 minutes, The Meg – even with all its Jaws, Orca and Jurassic Park steals intact – could still have been a gloriously unhinged good time.
It’s hard to say how much of this comes from the popularity of “Shark Week” or the deliberately absurd “Sharknado” series — of course it all traces back to “Jaws” — but this year’s offering wants to blend the more serious horror vibe of the last two summer films with the campiness of the Sci-Fi Channel schlock-fest.
One of the smarter things The Meg does is rip off Jaws with the exactness of a forger, cribbing a great shot here and there, but also mirroring the entire climax of the 1975 classic in miniature.
The Shallows (2016)
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
influenced by Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park (1993)
Plot Themes
Not “Jaws” (a much better film); not even the R-rated “Deep Blue Sea” (a much funnier film).
This week that arrives in the form of "The Shallows," a thriller that's part "Jaws" and part "The Raft" sequence from "Creepshow 2." Like that latter short that featured characters stuck on a platform in the middle of a lake where they could see the shore but didn't dare try to swim there due to something in the water between them and there, this one features Blake Lively as a surfer who ends up surviving an initial shark attack, only to end up on a rocky outcrop and then nearby buoy where she can see the safety of shore but just can't get there without being eaten.
2016 is the 50th anniversary of the heart-pounding “Jaws,” that gave us the famous line, “You need a bigger boat.”
In the tradition of Jaws, Collet-Serra begins with a shark attack before retreating to teases and false alarms for a while.
There's a long history of shark thrillers, and you can't get a much better blueprint (or movie) than Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic "Jaws."
It helps, of course, that the film has done something almost unthinkable in the four long decades of increasingly kitschy shark-attack movies since Spielberg’s Jaws — namely, that it has taken itself, and its premise, seriously.