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Blake Lively proves her capacity to hold an audience in "The Shallows," a woman-against-nature thriller that serves up solid scares before falling apart in the finale.

Lively plays Nancy Adams, a Texas med-school dropout on a surfing vacation in Mexico. She goes to a secret cove, a favorite of her recently departed mother, for some waves. But her last run of the day turns disastrous when a shark bites her left thigh and leaves her stranded on a rock 200 yards from shore. The bulk of the movie happens on that rock, and it's to Lively's credit that her performance and personality can hold the audience's attention.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra ("Run All Night," "Non-Stop") and screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski build the tension steadily until they throw the kitchen sink at the screen in a frenetic, silly ending that spoils what had been an entertaining nail-biter.

'The Shallows'

Opens Friday, June 24, at theaters everywhere; rated PG-13 for bloody images, intense sequences of peril, and brief strong language; 86 minutes.