Review of The Meg (2018) by Stjude_Bruh — 05 Sep 2018

Every summer, there seems to be a new shark movie that is released just as folks are heading out to the beach. Maybe they’re made to scare people off, or maybe it’s based on the fact that these movies make a lot of money. The Meg is by far the most high-profile, effects driven shark movie since Jaws. No, the terribly awful Sharknado films do not count, and they are made for TV. Going back to this film, the previews marketed the film as a fun time and exhilarating ride. However, even though I can say that the movie was not terrible, it definitely wasn’t much fun, and that is the major disappointment.As always, let us begin with the aspects of the film that were good. First off, we have Jason Statham as the lead role, which is an opportunity that he makes the most of. His character, Jonas Taylor, is a former rescue diver haunted by an incident in the past that resulted in the lives of two scientists. Living a quiet life in Thailand, he is recruited by Mana One, an ocean research facility, to rescue trapped members in a submarine that have been attacked by an unknown creature. His character develops as the movie progresses, going from a loner who wants to live a quiet life to a leader who places the lives of his crew mates above his own. Along with Statham, I also felt that Dwight K. Schrute (I mean Rainn Wilson) was entertaining as Dwight K. Schrute being a billionaire and fighting a prehistoric shark. Of course, the most important aspect of an action movie is the action, in which the film di not fail to deliver entirely. The effects were realistic CGI, which is an achievement considering that computerizing a 75 foot-long shark to fight props and submarines is a hard feat. We can thank the Chinese production companies that spent the money to make this film when a Hollywood-based probably wouldn’t do so. However, even though the action sequences are intense, there are much fewer scenes than I would’ve preferred to see.

This leads to the main weakness for this film: the lack of action sequences and fun. I care about quality more than anything, but when a film is marketed as a fun, action-packed adventure, that is the expectation that you go into the theater with. Unfortunately with The Meg, there is a lot more talking present. It ruins the pace of the film because the action will be interrupted multiple times by dialogue that, while relevant, is misplaced with the pacing. Also, the lead actress, Li Bingbing, did quite poorly when speaking English lines that it was distracting. When she spoke Mandarin, the scenes were well acted. It may be strange, but the same thing happens in Bollywood films. Since english is not the first and primary language for these actors, it is hard to speak and act it out properly in a movie.

I went into the theater expecting to have a good time, but a good time is not exactly what happened. It wasn’t a bad film because there was a clear objective for the characters as part of the plot and it wasn’t cheesy. However, it wasn’t fun or action-packed, which was seemingly the goal that the movie had in order to attract audiences. It certainly has, with over $460 million made across the globe at the moment. However, it definitely isn’t worth viewing in theaters. I say, it may be worth your $2 renting it on Redbox, but only if you want to see Jason Statham and Dwight take on sharks.

Rating wise, I would bestow this film 6 stars out of 10. No shark puns here.