The Reef - Schwimm um dein Leben

Nach langer Zeit endlich ein anständiger Hai-Thriller. Eine Gruppe von Freunden beschließt, nach dem Untergang des Schiffes auf eine 12 Meilen entfernte Insel zu schwimmen. Natürlich sind sie nicht alleine, ein verdammt hungriger Meeresräuber sorgt für unerwünschte Gesellschaft, und es ist definitiv kein Delfin! Zumindest bieten einige Atollriffe eine kleine Überlebenschance, von denen es leider auf dem Weg nur wenige gibt... Regisseur Traucki serviert uns nach den Blutigen Lagunen einen ähnlichen Handlungsverlauf, nur dass er die Lagune, Bäume und Krokodile gegen das Meer, Klippen und Haie eintauscht. Ich weiß nicht, ob das Sprichwort "Wiederholung ist die Mutter der Weisheit" hier ganz treffend ist, aber ich hatte die ganze Zeit über wirklich Angst. Der Hai sah wirklich gut aus, na klar, wenn man in überwiegenden Einstellungen ein lebendiges Tier verwendet. Die einzige Kritik, die ich hätte, bezieht sich auf die gelegentliche Dummheit der Hauptcharaktere, aber für diese Unterhaltung und Spannung sei es ihnen verziehen. (02.01.2011)

Eine ausgezeichnete minimalistische Arbeit mit einer großen Spannung. Die ist schleichend und vernünftig dosiert. Glaubhafte und zivilisiert gespielte Figuren ohne Serien-Gesichter. Ohne unlogische oder unwahrscheinliche Momente. (04.12.2014)

Along with the cult classic Jaws and Deep Blue Sea, The Reef is the best animal horror film I've seen featuring a white shark as the monster. I saw Andrew Traucki's Black Water, featuring a crocodile, a few days ago and was intrigued by it, so I didn't hesitate to reach for his next and very similar film. There are only six characters in the film, but the most important ones are the four who fight for their lives on the wide ocean with one very voracious shark that has an endless appetite to kill. The actors felt natural, the locations were well chosen and the music perfectly underlined the picture in the suspenseful scenes. At times I was a little bothered by the emotional expressions of the characters, but that's just a subjective opinion. All in all, a pretty decent survival film, in which raw authenticity was also achieved by using real sharks. (27.03.2014)

Do you remember Black Water, a small and good Australian thriller about a bunch of people threatened by a crocodile? This is exactly the same. Andrew Traucki must have told himself that since he was praised the last time, he wouldn’t change things for the next one; at most, the animal that gives the heroes a bad time. Now we have five nice people, a shipwreck, the open ocean and a hungry shark. It works well, there isn’t much to complain about, but this year there’s been another survival flick that I liked more (Frozen). 6/10 (15.11.2010)

Swimming ten miles across the open ocean knowing that a five-metre-long bloodthirsty creature is sniffing around behind you is not very pleasant. Not only do those who’ve personally had the privilege know this, but the Australian filmmakers have, with this unassuming film, hammered a similar sense of anxiety into my innocent head. If you don't expect bloody carnage, you'll get 90 minutes of intense and patiently built tension, the infectious fear of a terrifying enemy, and some brilliantly filmed shark attacks on humans that may not revel in red-blooded detail, but sound so real that it's chilling. And what's more, it's done without those well-known B-movie clichés, without digital monsters and without annoying heroes, who this time we don't wish for the shark to bite their ass any more than we wish it for ourselves. It could have been shorter a bit in places and the opening ten minutes are actually unnecessary, but otherwise, a very pleasant surprise that I could easily watch more than once. 70% (25.08.2013)