Review of The Meg (2018) by Rebecca31 — 11 Aug 2018

Unfortunately The Meg isn't so bad it's good. It's just so bad it's bad. Believe it or not I had a certain expectation for The Meg. Yes I know it's a Jason Statham movie about a deep sea submersible which has been attacked by a 75 foot pre-historic shark previously thought to be extinct. I know it's not going to be a masterpiece. I went to laugh and be entertained and well if it also featured Jason Statham punching Megalodon then that's just a bonus. Damn Jason you let me down again. I didn't expect much, but as far as bad monster movies go The Meg is definitely lacking.

Mana One, a multi-million dollar undersea observation program send a crew down to what was previously believed to be the ocean's lowest point. But wait, it turns out it's just a freezing cold cloud concealing an entire new ocean beneath it. Completely unexplored and just so happens to be home to the Megalodon. With the crew trapped down there there's only one man to call apparently, and that man is none other than Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham). With time running out Jonas must confront his fears and rescue the crew from this massive shark.

It didn't quite reach the "so bad it's good" category and honestly took itself way too seriously. I expected a massive shark to spend the majority of the movie chomping on everything and everyone. That's all I wanted, not too much to ask really. You get exactly what's advertised only less, ultimately The Meg did not have to try this hard. It's a movie about a giant pre-historic shark. It's ridiculous and should have played into that a lot more. Go big or go home, it needed more black comedy and less attempts at adding depth to the characters. The attempt at creating a serious shark movie is just not working when you have wooden actors and no script. I'm not going to compare it to Jaws because Jaws is in another league. Yet you will definitely be reminded of Jaws as The Meg just couldn't resist the temptation to pay homage to Jaws at every opportunity. There are so many bad shark movies out there you could do worse than The Meg, but then again it's not as fun as it should have been either. Maybe if it had an R rating, took itself less seriously and had more people being eaten it might have been better but I guess we'll never know. Although it made it's money back so don't be surprised if The Meg two comes along in a couple of years. So if you're the type of person who finds Deep Blue Sea or Jaws: The Revenge hilarious then be sure to check out The Meg, just make sure to go into it with zero expectations and leave your brain at home.