I was actually fortunate enough to go to an advanced screening of The Meg way back in July of 2017, so over a year ago (back when the movie was only called Meg... the The is a relatively new addition). I made sure to write this up back then so that the movie was still fresh in my mind (don't worry Warner Bros., I only posted it when the movie came out so I didn't violate your precious Non-Disclosure Agreement). Now, when I saw the film, it wasn't entirely completed. The script was, the story was, the music was... but not all of the animation was. So, the experience I had was probably even better than the one you will have with this movie. Not only did I get to see Jason Statham battle a gigantic prehistoric shark, but I also got to see Jason Statham with his most serious face and acting chops, battle an unfinished, pixelated, cartoon shark for part of the film. Either way, this movie is going to be immediately labeled "just another Statham action film"... and even though it IS that... it's also much, much better than that.
As I'm sure you do know by now, I have a bias toward Jason Statham. And while most of his movies range from bad to mediocre, a simpleton like myself still finds his films wildly entertaining, though I recognize they're not exactly "good" in the traditional sense. What's normally lacking in your standard Statham fare is depth and good writing. Characters are surface-level at best and we are to just accept them for who we are told they are. And, other than Statham's characters, the writing for everyone else (including dialogue) is generally sub-par to laughably bad. I'm generalizing here, but this seems to be the trend. So, when I heard about The Meg, I was nothing but excited... and when I got to see an advanced screening for free, I was ecstatic. But the expectations for this film was like my expectations for all Statham films - enjoy the moments Statham's on screen and eye-roll anyone else trying to take the spotlight. Thankfully, much to my pleasant surprise, it isn't like that at all. Everyone held their own, the writers actually contributed to the depth and characterization of other characters besides Statham, and the movie itself is just clever enough to be very, very fun.
The Meg is the melting pot of all of the best scenes in all of your favorite shark attack movies. It's not a new story, but it is so cleverly constructed that it really does feel like an original film. Jason Statham plays Jonas Taylor, an ex-Naval Captain brought in by a Chinese billionaire to dive down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and save three divers trapped in a submersible. However, down in the depths of the ocean lies the Megaladon, a massive, 90-foot, prehistoric shark that these so-called "scientists" have accidentally freed from his icy, bottom-of-the-ocean cell. This leads to Taylor not only having to save the ones who are trapped, but now he has to save the ones who aren't... leading up to a kick-ass battle of shark vs. Statham. Along with Statham, there's a very diverse cast of characters ranging from his ally Mac (Cliff Curtis), a brilliant engineer Jaxx (Ruby Rose), the billionaire who's funding the operation Jack (Rainn Wilson), an expert diver Suyin (Bingbing Li) and her adorable little daughter Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai) who steals every scene she's in.
Shark attack movies have made somewhat of a resurgence with 2016's The Shallows, 2017's 47 Meters Down, and now with The Meg. What writers are having to do now because it is such a niche genre, is that they have to be able to capitalize on the film by making as much money as possible, so slapping a PG-13 rating on it allows for a broader audience... but a less gory film. So, instead of relying on the shark attack gore, we're getting movies that go back to the roots of the Godfather of shark attack movies, Jaws. These movies now are more and more about the thrills of the shark attack, the anticipation of when the shark will arrive, and so forth, but by essentially eliminating the gore that has been a staple of the genre for years. The good news is that The Meg is actually quite thrilling. There were several moments where I felt my heart pounding in my chest fearing the sudden appearance of the megaladon (and I wasn't even sure if the shark I was about to see had its animation finished yet or not). The movie is also a lot of fun. Most of the characters have a wonderful chemistry together which lends to moments that are genuinely funny. It's weird though, the only characters that I felt didn't have much chemistry are Statham and Li. They're the central male and female leads of the film (and of course there's a bit of a forced romance happening between them... that doesn't get too out of hand), but I just didn't feel any passion, any heat from either of them toward the other. It's evident they're getting together... because the script suggests that they should. While their "romance" is somewhat distracting, the one character who steals the show is little Meiying. She's only about eight years old, but she's one of the rare child characters who is finally written well. It's not easy to have an 8-year-old comic relief, but Meiying rivals Jonathan Lipnicki's Jerry Maguire comic relief. She has great banter with Statham, is a very smart character, and whadaya know... actually necessary for the plot of the film and not just some annoying kid inserted into to the film so we empathize with her mother. The cast of characters are very well-rounded and the film doesn't fall into stereotypical shark-attack-ensemble with no depth.
Another element to the film that the writers did well was how creative they were with each scene. It was evident that they did their homework (I mean, one of the dudes who wrote this movie wrote Zodiac, so you know he's got some chops) and watched the very best shark attack movies. We have an ensemble cast working on a station in the middle of the ocean which is attacked by the shark (a la Deep Blue Sea), we've got characters taking a boat out to the ocean to lure in the shark and kill it (a la Jaws), we've got people swimming in the ocean terrorized by the shark (a la Open Water/The Reef). Except, it doesn't feel like we've watched this movie before because it's not just a regular shark we're afraid of and the "plans" these characters come up with to take out the shark are a lot more clever and high tech than we've ever seen in a shark attack film before. It could've easily fallen into lazy Statham action movie, but the film reaches for better. I still believe that the PG-13 hinders the movie and it could've been a lot more fun if the studio and director went balls-out with the giant shark attacks, but with a 150 million dollar budget, you don't take any chances of ostracizing a single ticket-buyer. What I'm trying to say is that The Meg is a lot better than what you're anticipating and expecting. The areas that you believe are going to fall short and come off as particularly weak are, in fact, much better. The other areas you believe that are going to be badass.... are, in fact, badass. At the end of the day, this movie is essentially just Jason Statham vs. the shark, so don't worry about there not being enough Statham (there's plenty) or there not being enough shark (there's enough) or there not being an epic mano y mano Statham/shark fight at the end (because there definitely is). For a shark attack movie in the middle of the summer, it could've been a lot worse, and... actually, I don't know if it even could've been much better. If you're even somewhat interested by the genre, The Meg is not a movie to miss. I know I'm going out to see it again... this time I hope with completed shark effects.
B
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