Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writer: Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber (Screenplay) Steve Alten (Novel)
Starring: Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, Jessica McNamee, Rainn Wilson, Bingbing Li, Cliff Curtis, Masi Oka, Winston Chao
Plot: After escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor must confront his fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible.
Tagline – If you see her coming…It’s all you’ll have time to say.
Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Massively Entertaining
Story: The Meg starts as we learn just how skill and how many difficult decisions expert rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) has made leaving him out of the water. On the other side of the story 5-years-later billionaire Morris (Wilson) has assembled a team run by Dr Zhang (Chao) including marine biologist Suyin (Li) Mac (Curtis), Jaxx (Rose) DJ (Kennedy) Heller (Taylor) The Wall (Olafsson) Lori (McNamee) and Toshi (Oka) to see if there is anything below the bottom of the ocean.
Once they breach the line they believed to be the bottom the submersible comes under attack and is in need of rescue, the only man to have rescued people that far down, Jonas Taylor, now he must rescue them crew and face the monstrous megalodon which ruined his career before it becomes a threat to anybody or anything in the ocean.
Thoughts on The Meg
Characters – Jonas Taylor is the expert rescue diver, disgraced for a job he made the right decision on, forced to come back and save a new crew which includes his ex-wife. The reluctant hero is this character and the only that will do anything crazy enough to protect human lives. Suyin is the marine biologist who also has her daughter Meiying on the research base, this research could help define her career and she will play to the side of nature rather than shooting first. Morris is the billionaire financing this research, it just so happens to be his visiting day when they break through, though when the Meg is loose, he sees everything as a potential PR opportunity or disaster. Mac runs the operations on the crew, an old friend of Jonas’ he pretty much just relays the instructions for the film. Dr Zhang has worked his entire life on the theory of the bottom of the ocean only being layer that can be crossed to go deeper, the discovery would change how the world see him, though he would never risk human life for science. Jaxx is the computer expert, she designed the base and like DJ is here for moment of comic relief. Meiying the daughter of Suyin just roams the base, unlikely most children in films this is one of the strongest and best characters in the film.
Performances – Jason Statham a former Olympic diver turned action star, could you have written a more perfect role for him? He is great as the action lead and this is easily one f his best solo roles in years. Bingbing Li is our leading lady and she is great to watch, gets put in just as many action sequences as Statham never looking out of place, while handling the emotion moments too. Rainn Wilson is good for a laugh, the occasion good idea and showing us just how crazy billionaires can be. The rest of the cast are good, they give us good moments to laugh for the most part with Page Kennedy taking over large part with his normal person reaction to everything.
Story – The story here comes from the popular novel of the same name, we have a crew that must try and stop a megalodon from causing problems to the rest of the world after they discover it and accidently release it. Did we really think this was going to have the deepest story, no, did we just want to watch a megalodon eat stuff while human try to stop it, yes. This sums up the story perfectly, we never get anything complicated, we do touch on the idea of science versus survival which is important, but also gets answered rationally. We are saved a lot of the science talk which could have clouded over moments and even though most of the character are generic they fit the pieces together for all we wanted in the story.
Action/Horror/Sci-Fi – The action, well this is big, the shark is 70-foot long, we know we are going to have destruction and what we got in the final sequence is just what we wanted. The horror is difficult to get work in this movie, partial because of the rating 12a in England, and you can’t really build suspense when the shark is that big. The sci-fi side of the film shows what would happen if we found a real megalodon being released in the eco-system.
Settings – Most of the film is set in the wide ocean, this makes sense, you won’t bump into the shark at the supermarket, the idea this megalodon would out swim most boats adds to the idea running isn’t going to help and for the feeding ground we know we are in for a treat, or it is.
Special Effects – When you have a budget this big you expect the effects to be top of the level, for the most part they are, the scale of megalodon makes everything seem life or death and the crafts created feel fresh for the underwater experience.
Scene of the Movie – Final act of the film.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Parenting question most, while Meiying isn’t an annoying kid, surely with the money this family has it would be better to keep her on land or a nanny.
Final Thoughts – This is everything you wanted for a giant shark versus Jason Statham movie, you know moments are going to be dumb, but they are fun.
Overall: Big, dumb and enjoyable.
Rating
