The Meg

The Meg

Starring Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose

Directed by Jon Turteltaub

The megalodon was a huge, fearless shark that existed during the time of the dinosaurs, and thought to be extinct.  Of course, after a group of oceanographers dig deeper than anyone has ever gone before, they find one still alive and well, and it's rather angry it's been disturbed. 

Ever since Steven Spielberg introduced the world to a cute little thing named Jaws, people have been afraid to get into the water.  While The Meg continues the tradition of having a shark attacking and eating people, it doesn't infuse the level of fear and paranoia many people felt after seeing Jaws, and thankfully the film never tries to re-create that sense of dread.  Instead, it serves as a typical B-rated film with just enough laughs and violence to earn a timid PG-13 rating, serving as a middle-of-the-road film between Jaws and Sharknado.

The film, based on a book, has as many cliches littered around as there would be bodies after the shark attack.  Jason Statham plays a former rescue diver who looses two friends, and spends five years sulking and getting drunk in Thailand.  When a vessel carrying his ex-wife (not that we were ever introduced before this) is stranded at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, he's the only one who can possibly save them, and of course he re-enlists immediately and meets the other walking stereotypes. 

Rainn Wilson plays the big-mouthed, yet cowardly, billionaire.  Ruby Rose plays the tatted, super computer savvy technician.  Then there's the token black guy who can't swim, a doctor with a chip on his shoulder, and the old friend.  All play to their stereotypes, which is to be expected.  Statham is an excellent action hero with just enough comedic chops to be believable (check out the movie Spy to see his best comedic performance), and here he knows exactly how silly the film is and hams it up to perfection, not going overboard but not being serious about it at all.

Bingbing Li plays Suyin, an oceanographer who serves to be Statham's love interest, and also a direct pandering to the Chinese market.  Ever since Michael Bay's "Transformers: Age of Extinction" dominated the foreign box office (it only made $245 million in the US, but $858 million overseas, including $320 million in China alone), films have been looking to pander to the overseas audience in hopes of making more money, and "The Meg" clearly plays to those strengths.  Not only is the love interest (and fellow hero) an Asian, but the film takes place in Asia, with several Asian actors as background characters.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just something I picked up due to the way it obviously played to that.

The CGI is effective enough, giving the megalodon a fierce, frightening feel, and the acting is as decent as you'd expect from a film that doesn't take itself too seriously (especially since it's something I've heard that has been in development for like five years already).  The plot should be plain and simple, but there's several confusing moments that made me thing some important information got left on the cutting room floor, such as Statham's character having to rescue his ex-wife, when we never even knew he was married in the first place.  The shark action is intense and extreme, leaning more toward sheer adrenaline than sheer chills.  All of which is fine, which is what this movie was - a fine little romp to take your mind off your troubles for a little while, but it's definitely nothing fantastic.

Now it's time for the pros and cons of the film, starting with the pros:  some decent CGI effects make the megalodon look truly terrifying, a solid performance by Jason Statham, a fun mindless b-rated flick to take your mind off things.  Now for the cons: there was nothing stellar or memorable, an obvious pandering to overseas audiences, a story that seemed to miss several beats, and stereotypical characters.

Overall, I would give The Meg a B-.