10 Surprisingly Great Movies From Summer 2016

10. The Shallows

What We Expected: Ninety unbearably campy minutes of Blake Lively not acting and serving as nothing more than eye candy while she faces off against an unconvincing CGI shark.

What We Got: An uncommonly tense shark movie that dares to take itself seriously and is infinitely more compelling as a result. Sure, Likely is extremely easy on the eyes here, but director Jaume Collet-Serra doesn't overdo it on the lingering bikini shots, and perhaps most surprisingly, Lively carries the film extremely well with her committed performance, considering she's the only significant character in the entire movie.

It's not quite as convincing in its third reel showdown (which does admittedly go a little CGI overkill), but on the whole The Shallows delivers nail-biting suspense, terrific visuals and a surprisingly strong central performance.