The Reef (2010) User Reviews

Solid acting and tense

[mokumgrrl · 7/10 · 19 November 2010]

Alright, so this is never going to win any Oscars, yet it was very entertaining.

The character development was good, I actually cared for each person, which for me is a great indicator. If you can pull that off, it's got a bit of quality right there. Nothing felt fake or over/under done. The shark shots were real, no fake plastic models to be found! The movie was often pretty tense, i found myself literally on the edge of my couch. It was nice to hear the Aussie accents and it didn't feel "americanised" in any way. A great little movie with dedicated actors and a solid, scary story! Well done.

FINALLY! SHARKS BEHAVING LIKE REAL SHARKS!

[lita-ann88 · 6/10 · 6 April 2019]

It is so refreshing to watch a shark film in which the sharks ACTUALLY behave like sharks.

Not CGI sharks who are on a blood thirsty revenge plot. But sharks who find humans in their environment and in their territory. They don't attack straight off the bat, they watch and survey their pray. It's beautiful to see sharks being sharks for once.

Enjoyable movie :)

Better than most in this genre.

[scottrob36 · 7/10 · 13 June 2021]

I think this film highlights decisions that people have to make in life death situations. The isolation of being in the ocean with miles of the unknown below where you swim, where currents change and waves are constantly battering against you is everyone's worst nightmare and then of course comes sharks. There was a lot of tension in this film and given the small cast they were all excellent in their roles and were very convincing. Nothing in the film felt fake and of course the footage of the sharks were real. This film is well worth a watch.

A Tense and Realistic Combination of "Open Water" and "Jaws"

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 7 November 2010]

Luke (Damian Walshe-Howling) welcomes his friend Matt (Gyton Grantley) and his girlfriend Suzie ( Adrienne Pickering) that come from London and Matt's sister and Luke's former girlfriend Kate (Zoe Naylor) that comes from Sydney to sail with him and the sailor Warren (Kieran Darcy-Smith) in a sailboat. However, the vessel hits an underwater rock and capsizes with an opening on her bottom. Luke advises that they should swim in the north direction to reach the Turtle Island, in Queensland, Australia, while they have strength since there is a current moving the stranded boat in the opposite direction of land but Warren prefers to stay on the hull waiting for help since there are sharks in the water. The quartet swims, but they are hunted by a great white shark.

"The Reef" is a tense and realistic combination of "Open Water" and "Jaws". The performances are top-notch and transmit the sensation of fear to the viewer and the attacks of the white shark are impressively real. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Perigo em Alto-Mar" ("Danger in High Sea")

The waters will run red...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 21 November 2010]

Following in the wake of the popular "Jaws" movies, there have been a recent wave of these shark survival/lost at sea movies around. And "The Reef" is actually one of the better movies in the genre.

The story is pretty easy to follow, a yacht gets capsized and starts to sink, and a group of people decide to swim for an island. Well, given the choice of being left on a sinking boat caught in the currents or taking your chances and swimming to land, well the choice is fairly obvious.

Anyway, what makes this movie stand out from others like "Adrift" and "Open Water" is that there is much more shark time, and you actually get to see the shark in good views. And also, somehow you start to, in an odd way, cheer on when you see the shark, because the movie is constantly building up suspense and thrills, and you just want these to peak. And there are some nice peaks to these thrills, trust me. I am not going to ruin anything and say what it is, but I liked it.

I think the movie captured human nature when caught in a hopeless situation and when people start having to respond to the chaos around them. The dialogue was good and the actors portrayed their characters very good and in very believable manners.

However, what puzzles me was that it would be the same shark that is stalking the people throughout the movie. That seems very weird. And also, like someone else pointed out, what was up with the constant taking off and putting on the goggles that Luke was doing? That made no sense at all.

But all in all, "The Reef" is definitely worth your time, especially if you like shark movies, or movies that tear on the human psyche.

Good Suspense

[thelastblogontheleft · 5/10 · 6 January 2017]

There's not much more to say about the plot besides that quick synopsis. Luke (played by Damian Walshe-Howling) is delivering a yacht to a customer and brings a few friends (and a fellow sailor) along with him for a fun trip. Not long after they start on their journey, they hit part of the reef and must decide whether they will stay with the slowly capsizing boat or try to swim to the nearest land. The sailor stays behind as the other four make their way out into open water, and get picked off one by one by a great white shark.

It's based on the true story of Ray Boundy, who was the sole survivor of a similar incident in 1983.

I will freely admit that I am not a huge fan of shark movies. I think I was scarred for life when I saw Open Water in theaters and was bored almost to death. But this one did surprise me a bit. It's not my favorite movie by any stretch but I thought it was well done.

Firstly, you get a taste of each of the characters' personalities, but you aren't rolling your eyes waiting for the action to happen. It's actually pretty shocking when they hit the reef, not because you don't expect it — because duh — but because it happens so quickly. I thought I would have to endure more back-and-forth between some admittedly forgettable characters, but they cut to the chase without too much fuss.

The concept is, of course, terrifying. I think it's the closest you can get to space while on earth. You're in the middle of this massive expanse with no way to escape unless your body is strong enough to allow you to swim to solid ground. You have NO idea what's around you, and you won't know until it's too late. It's isolating in a very sobering way.

The tension is HIGH, basically from the get-go. It's a nail-biter. While you don't know the full outcome of the movie from the start, you know enough to be able to anticipate most of what's going to happen, so it means that any moment of danger makes you panic a little bit.

I also really loved many of the shots. They used real shark footage, which was great — no relying on special effects, which would have no doubt been cheesy and taken away from the realism. But they did a great job at weaving together genuine shark footage with footage of the actors and it does make you feel like you're right there with them.

Definitely a suspenseful, nervewracking movie!

Fun movie

[factsbyteenager · 7/10 · 10 July 2017]

Entertaining movie. Hated the ending though, Shark wasn't the villain, The woman who survived was. Luke saved her but That stupid lady let him die cause she wasn't feeling well so her laziness killed Luke. That woman ruined the movie. since its based on true story, and if in real it happened the same.. then i hate that surviving woman. Selfish, lazy, whore.

These people are complete idiots

[Calicodreamin · 4/10 · 19 July 2019]

I can't in good conscience give this movie a good rating based solely on the complete idiocy of the characters. Their sole purpose is to swim 10 miles to an island after their boat sinks, so tell me why they spend the majority of the time treading water?! Keep moving! Then as soon as they see the shark they huddle up and thrash about, which about only thing literally everyone knows about sharks is that they're attracted to movements! Then at the climactic moment of the movie, Katie cant get her act together to get Luke on the island, with minutes to work with. Then proceeds to scream wildly into the air - you could have saved him! I cannot with these idiots, ruined the movie.

I do appreciate that the film maker choose to use real images of sharks rather than CGI and the suspense is really there throughout.

An entertaining movie that should have been called "Open Water Again". Good movie, but as close to a remake you can get. I say B

[cosmo_tiger · 18 July 2011]

"Your more likely to die from a bee sting then get killed be a shark." After the boat that they are on gets damaged and is unable to move, five friends must decide to wait it out on the boat or swim to an island. When the decision is made they soon begin to regret their choice. First of all I will say that I did enjoy the movie. I have not yet seen the movie "Open Water", but after watching this I feel like I have. This movie is repetitive but keeps you watching. People swim, they see a shark...over and over. Like "Open Water" this is a true story, which helps in the enjoyment of this. There really isn't much more to say about this movie, not too much to it, but it is entertaining. Overall, I liked it, but if you have seen "Open Water" this may be too much of the same thing to fully enjoy it. I give it a B.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I will.

*Also try - Frozen & Open Water

Better than Open Water

[gregsrants · 7/10 · 3 December 2010]

One cannot write a review about The Reef without referencing 2003's Open Water. After all, the plot details are practically identical. Both films center upon people that are stranded in the ocean and fight off hungry sharks while swimming aimlessly in hopes of survival. And in both films, the sharks win. The main difference in The Reef is the number of characters involved (four this time instead of two) and how they end up in their predicament (their boat capsizes as opposed to simply being forgotten). The Reef begins with the requisite introduction of the main characters. Their names don't matter so let's simplify by identifying there is a couple, a former couple and a sailor. The group of five take to the ocean from Sydney, Australia for a day of underwater snorkeling. But upon their return, their vessel hits a hidden rock and tears a hole in the ship's hull. The boat flips and soon the five mates are sitting on the underbelly of their capsized and sinking ship. With an outdated rescue beacon, four members of the group decide to take to the water in hopes they can swim to land which they approximate to be 10-12 miles north of their location. To the water they take, but before long their positive spirit is met with terrifying reality when a shark begins to circle the swimming foursome. Panic turns to frightful horror when the shark attacks and eats one of the water treading swimmers. As the horror of their situation becomes a deadly reality, the remaining three try to make it to land before the ever-hungry shark comes back for seconds and thirds. Open Water was a bit of a independent success back in 2003. Marketed as being based on true events, two actors portrayed the doomed simmers while reportedly being circled by real sharks. The Reef would also have you believe that their story is authentic and the result is no less terrifying. Sharks continue to be one of the most feared animals on the planet (thanks Steven Spielberg!) and writer/director Andrew Traucki uses the ocean and his circling beast to his utmost advantage. A scene where the shark literally glides over one of the swimmers shoulders was both terrifying and masterfully crafted. Aforementioned, references to Open Water are unavoidable, but The Reef is actually a better film due largely to the larger cast (more people = more carnage) and that the dialogue didn't solely consist of a couple arguing and yelling to each other between shark feeding times. You don't really get attached to any one character to emotionally hope for any one particular survivor to the tragic event, but The Reef still provides audiences with what is advertised on the DVD packaging. It may not equal Jaws for overall entertainment value, but we don't think it was attempting to unseat the champ either.

Keep your goggles on!!!

[ElijahCSkuggs · 5/10 · 15 November 2010]

Three blokes and two sheilas go out to do some snorkeling. Bad thing happens and now they have to make a choice to either swim for land and risk the chance of being shark bait, or wait for safety and risk death by more boring odds. Of course you swim! We all know one of the coolest ways to die is being eaten alive by sharks.

Anywho, Black Water director sticks to what he likes and makes Open Water with a White Pointer...basically. And really, that's all you need to know if you want to see the movie or not. Oh? You want to know if there's boobs and blood as well? There's no boobs, but there's some blood...nothing crazy...just bloody water.

The Reef aka Swim If You Dare aka Great White Snackaroonies aka Open Water with a Bad Script is a film that suffered mostly from having a bad script. I'd be lying to you if I said the film didn't open remarkably close to soft-core porn territory. People seem to confuse themselves when they're privy to minimal dialogue. Just because they're not speaking at a normal rate, doesn't mean it's more effective because of it's simplicity. This film is unique here as the actors did rather well with what they had. They really did. The script was still weak though.

There's lot of nit-picking and complaining to be had here. You'd think by how popular shark week is nowadays, that most people, especially people who are snorkeling in Australian waters, would know a lil bit about how to act when faced with shark problems. I'm not gonna get into it, as it's not Learn Time, but there was a lot of dumb stuff going on. But the thing that got my goat more than anything was our main man's issue with constantly taking off his goggles. Seriously, if there's a shark in the water...a BIG f@cking shark...you need to keep an eye out for it. Don't just look for 30 seconds, pop back up and say that you can't see anything. Keep your head down and keep a look out you stupid son of a bitch!!!!!! I'll kill you if you take those goggles off again! I mean it! I'll kill youuuu *gets swallowed whole by huge shark because of pretty boy not wanting to keep goggles on*

With all that said, the movie is about a great white shark making pathetic humans cry and be scared. That's fun. It's very simple. Great Whites are better than human beings. Therefore, movies with Great Whites are better than most movies that don't have Great Whites. Understand? Good!

Better than Open Water....

[vamplad79 · 8/10 · 1 January 2011]

Has similar premise as Open Water but is done a lot better. The characters are a lot better (no endless bickering for 3/4 of the movie) and the shark is both a real threat and clearly seen throughout the movie. This was the movie i was hoping Open Water would be.

The film is not fast paced or action orientated with all the attacks being quick but impactful. We have a lot of pov shots at water level and a views of under the water to slowly build the tension. I found this more than effective.

The direction is tight and the acting is decent. The shark itself seems to be real footage of a great white mixed in with the actors and it works really well. In fact i would say this is one if not the only shark film that does this seamlessly.

Without a doubt The Reef is one of the best shark films ever and i highly recommend it to anyone that loves animal attacks films or sharks. SYFY should take note on how to do a animal attack film right by watching this film.

I dare to say I enjoyed it more than Jaws

[amillionmovies · 7/10 · 24 December 2015]

Single handedly the best shark movie I've seen thus far. There were no unnecessary comedy bits, and stuck true to its fight or flight theme.

I was held captive from the beginning. There were moments where I held my breath without even noticing it, only to let out a muffled "urrrgghhh". Throughout this movie I found myself feeling helpless and almost as though I were there myself, hell, even half way through I said with a sigh "this movie is exhausting".

I would not call this movie a horror though, it's more like a psychological thriller. I think the possibility of "what if" and the "what's that" plays with your mind way more than the actual shark attacks (which were a bit lackluster if I'm being honest).

I do not think you'd be happy with this movie if you're looking to feel like if you are watching the exorcist or something along the lines of getting the crap scared out of you and not being able to go to the toilet alone for a while.

If you are looking for a movie where you jump out of your skin and get your heart racing (even if it's once) this movie would be a great choice. It truly brings out your survival instincts.

Unfortunately lacks anything to make it more than average at best...

[patthebatfan · 3/10 · 20 August 2011]

Went into the movie just wanting a good shark movie and the setup was good. Unfortunately the 2 leading ladies were very unconvincing and tended to over react in every situation. They seemed unnatural and stunted any rhythm the movie had going. The movie seemed to drag on for a bit especially since you don't see a shark for over 50 minutes which could have easily been cut in half. You never truly care for the characters as you don't learn enough about each one to have concern for their well being. Also the characters seem to not understand anything about sharks as they do the opposite of what common sense tells you to do. If there is a shark around you why would you random splash and freak out instead of remaining calm? Yes it's scary but you are only attracting them more. Why swim to a someone who is bleeding profusely? Why when you see a large school of fish suddenly leaving an area would you think it's safe? Also if you're on a rock out of the water right after you've seen a shark why not wait at least a little while for it to swim away so that you have a few extra minutes to get to the main island?

Makes Open Water look like Open season

[amesmonde · 6 February 2011]

Andrew Traucki director of croc flick Black Water (2007)  hones his skills in this tense shark flick that makes Open Water look like Open season.

The story is simple, a boat becomes wrecked, and all but one of a group of five friends try to swim their way across the reef to a small island.

It's well filmed with no dodgy special effects in sight. The script is natural and is not forced or cheesy, the hand held camera work is effective and not a shaky mess. This is no low budget schlock. It's taught film making, wonderfully shot with some fantastic edge of the seat primal fear, courtesy of a real Great White Shark.

It's no Jaws, but as a basic survival film it works a treat. Shark lovers like myself will eat this up.

I liked this movie!!!!

[aliwenig · 7/10 · 21 March 2022]

Really good acting! I enjoyed this movie. Some parts were predicted but it kept me interested the whole time. I like how it was based on a true story.

Best new-age shark movie

[maurovicmarin · 7/10 · 14 October 2016]

The Reef (2010) is a movie directed by Andrew Traucki. It's a new generation shark movie, and probably the one that gets closest to being a horror movie. It's an Australian movie so the actor's accent might be a problem for non-native English speakers that aren't used to it, I recommend toggling the subtitles on if possible.

The movie starts off in medias res, with a group of friends heading to Indonesia with a sailboat. We find out eventually, that two of the protagonists had a relationship in the past, that functions as side story that isn't too relevant, especially towards the end. During the trip the sailboat hits the bottom of the reef and tips over, making it unable for the characters to proceed. They choose to swim to the nearest island, about 12 miles from the shore, but a great white shark that swims in the area won't make things easy for them.

As I am always kind of skeptic about new shark movies, I didn't have high hopes for this one either. But it turned out to be better than what I expected it to be. As I said, it has some jump scares and it's the most realistic shark movie I have seen. It is not based on a true story but it could have easily been. It's the only shark movie that made me think twice before jumping into deep waters again.

In my opinion, the acting was good, with a lot of screaming and macabre reactions, that really gave me the feeling that I was watching a real event and not a movie. It's nothing too extreme, but that's exactly how a horror shark movie should be, realistic.

I would recommend this movie, alongside with Steven Spielberg's Jaws, as the shark movies you need to watch as a shark fanatic. Solid plot, good cast and overall a more than average shark movie worth watching.

Good (given the conditions)

[bennyhagen · 5/10 · 25 February 2011]

For a low budget, independent movie The Reef - along the first 30 minutes - gives you reason to be optimistic but slowly runs into the problems we might have experienced in the quite similar movie "Open Water". Though Andrew Traucki does a better job at expanding 25 minutes of story and a fairly thin piece of script into 90 minutes of feature film, you'll feel the substance diluting more and more as time goes by and The Reef runs out of elements to work with. And it doesn't help, that the cast is actually fairly potent, neither does the well managed realism, after minute 70, it is clear, that every chance to insert a minute here and there has been used deliberately to expand this this into a feature - at the expense of suspense. Let's face it: there is nothing to work with on the open sea. It's just water. Well, given that you want to make a life-like movie as of course there is always the option of forcefully inserting character development, conflict or mysticism into this kind of flick but obviously this was not the goal here. And I do approve of that, but then please choose an environment where you have something to get me trough 90 minutes of... life.

That's that. Now besides the obvious lack of content, I need to say I really can't find anything to object here, again, Andrew Traucki actually gets out everything there is to get out of this thin piece of script. Still, it's not enough.

So I'd say 5/10. If you're sensitive enough, the amount of tension provided might get you trough it. Creature lovers and hard boiled horror fans will simply fall asleep half way round.

Very excellent shark thriller....

[MovieGuy01 · 6/10 · 23 February 2011]

I've just finished watching this film tonight. I thought that it was a great film with some marvellous acting by everyone in it. It kept me gripped to my seat throughout the whole film. Its about 5 people who are on a sailboat in the great barrier reef in Australia. They are called Luke, his friend Matt and his girlfriend Suzie, Also Matt's sister and Luke's former girlfriend Kate They are all enjoying a nice sail when their boat hits an underwater rock and brings them to a halt. Their only way of getting back to land is by swimming. All but one of the friends decides not to go with them so the rest of them leave without him. All is well until one of them spots a shark in the water which sends them all into a panic. I found this to be an excellent thriller with some amazing scenery around it. turned a to be a great film in the end. I really recommend it 6/10

Eat them quick please

[issachar · 2/10 · 16 November 2010]

I feel so sorry for what really happened as the movie said it's based on a true story. And I'm really sorry for who have the story made movie.

There is nothing really to watch on "The Reef". OK, it's a tragedy, boat accident happened, people left in open water, and then a not really big and not even scary shark came over, ate most of them, movie end.

I could have guessed most of them are dead and only one live to tell the story, or where is the real story come from? LOL~~~ So come on, give me something unpredictable! BUT THERE IS NONE!

There are definitely desperate girls screaming, a smart guy trying sort out the situation but obviously failed. The shark ate them one by one by one by one, now the movie ended. And I saved you like 10 bucks. Now go watch another one.

This movie made me feel ill with nausea, it's got my vote!

[snow_max · 7/10 · 1 April 2014]

When it comes to shark movies.. lets be honest, most suck! but i found this little gem the other night whilst i was high and i can honestly say it is intense! The camera being water level made this a lot more interesting to watch, i felt the paranoia the characters went through.. that at any moment a big pair of teeth would come flying out at you! this would be my worst nightmare.

The only fault i found with it was the ending which was a little too far fetched, but apart from that it was kind of realistic as far as these kinda films go.

Overall a good shark movie, 7/10.

SAILING FOR DUMMIES

[jeanneb-88502 · 1/10 · 5 April 2019]

Seriously? Where are the life vests that are required to have on board? And was there no emergency self inflating raft? You know the tented domed kind. No self respecting sailor would go out in the middle of the ocean without one. Just all out awful movie. HORRIBLE!! Did not even finish.

"Jaws" in "Open Water"

[capoazzurro · 8/10 · 25 August 2010]

When I saw, I could be the first one to write a review for this movie, I thought to myself, that's a chance not to let go! And here I go... If you're familiar with horror flicks in general and animal terror-flicks in detail you'll find yourself reminded of the notorious "Jaws" (well, of course since it's the godfather of Shark-films), "Open Water" and, if you know who the director is, also of his latest film "Black Water". To be honest, "The Reef" hasn't many similarities to "Jaws". It has though many similarities to "Open Water", and if you liked that last named, you'll definitely like "The Reef". The style of direction here uses perspectives from the point of view of the protagonists and therefor also a lot of shaky-cam. Although this is no revolution in directing anymore, it surely succeeds in adding realism to this movie and giving the audience the feeling of being one of the group. The characters are all very authentic, without the typical stereotypes in the Hollywood-made animal horror-flicks, so it gets very easy to feel sympathy for and identify with the characters (like in "Black Water"). Because the director probably didn't have the biggest budget to spent for his movie he made clever choices in what to show and what to leave to the imagination of the viewer. It's always better to show effects only if they're worth to show, and so does Traucki in this movie. For example Traucki doesn't show how the yacht capsizes or delivers an exact explanation why it overturns, but not in the way that he's cheating the audience by keeping back important information. He just puts you in the situation of the individuals and doesn't give you the chance of seeing from a bird's perspective what has happened to the yacht. But what he shows to us is very well made. The shark looks, moves and behaves like a shark, like the animal that is the most dangerous predator in the seas, and not like an exaggerated monster from outer space. Unfortunately it's pretty easy to estimate what's happening next in the movie, but that's due to the simple setting in the sea, with water and almost nothing but water. What the film manages very well is getting never boring and holding the audience's attention during the whole duration of the movie. You can say that the movie shouldn't have lasted longer though, the duration is perfect. And now... go and see the movie yourself...or just take a swim!

Good movie, thrilling at times

[Snejter · 6/10 · 5 December 2010]

A good movie with a good cast, at some parts of the movie very thrilling. To say the truth I never was a great fan of shark movies but I decided to watch this one after a friend suggested to do so.

A boat trip goes wrong and 4 out of 5 persons on the boat end swimming for a land they are not fully sure is there, the other one tries his luck waiting for a rescue on the capsized boat. The four swimmers are continuously attacked by shark which at the end leaves only 1 survivor. The storyline is quite predictable though as stated before during the shark attacks there are moments of good suspense which I enjoyed. On the whole this is a good movie, not the most original but well directed. Not a definitive watch but a good option. Vote 6.

The Reef

[jboothmillard · 4/10 · 11 February 2011]

If you've seen Open Water or Adrift, then this film is the same thing again, but with a sprinkle of the Jaws thing, and it claims to be based on a true story, I guessed that from the DVD cover. Basically four friends: Luke (Damian Walshe-Howling), Matt (Gyton Grantley), Matt's girlfriend Suzie (Adrienne Pickering) from London, and Matt's sister and Luke's ex-girlfriend Kate (Zoe Naylor) from Sydney, are getting together. They are going sailing in the oceans of Indonesia, with sailor Warren (Kieran Darcy-Smith) steering, and have some fun on a small island and swimming a little in the water itself. But when the vessel hits a rock underneath it capsizes, turning the boat upside down and it is bobbing like a cork as it continues to sink. Sitting on top of the capsized boat the friends are not confident that they will be rescued for a long while, Luke thinks if they swim towards Turtle Island, Queensland, Australia there is better chance of rescue. The journey is a few miles away, but they know if they stay on the boat the current will drift them further out to sea, so while the four friends swim away, Warren refuses and wants to stay where he is. So the friends have swam right out to ocean following the compass on Luke's watch, and there was a concern it would happen, soon enough they realise there is a great white shark stalking them. Matt is the first to be eaten when he tries to get his support float back, and now the friends are swimming as fast as they can, risking a sleep as well. One of the girls gets eaten just before they finally see the island they need to reach, the two remaining friends rest occasionally on the reef rocks, but Luke gets eaten as well and the last remaining girl is alone. The final text says that she did get rescued the next day, and Warren who stayed behind on the boat, neither he or any remains of the boat were found. Also starring Mark Simpson as Shane. Whether the story is true or not, I don't know, I would personally doubt it it, it's probably like The Fourth Kind fib thing, it is a little low on the scare factor, and the scripting is pretty predictable, I preferred the similar themed films, but it's not a bad thriller. Okay!