Title – The Meg (2018)

Director – Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure)

Cast – Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, Rainn Wilson, Bingbing Li, Cliff Curtis

Plot – Naval captain Jonas Taylor (Statham) must confront his biggest fear in the form of a thought to be extinct Megalodon shark that is set loose on the unsuspecting world.

“Meg versus man isn’t a fight… it’s a slaughter”

Review by Eddie on 17/08/2018

Expectations kept in check are the key to unlocking the good times to be found in The Meg, a film not quite matching the high levels of dumb fun found in 1999 guilty pleasure favourite Deep Blue Sea or the shark classic thrills and chills of Jaws, becomes a genuinely fun big screen blockbuster that is tailor made to be consumed on the big screen with the right mindset.

Any film featuring the return of a long dead Megalodon shark, headlined by Jason Statham and directed by the man responsible for National Treasure is going to be a certain type of cinematic experience and for anyone that caught of glimpse of The Meg’s over the top trailers or social media campaigns and thought they’d not be entering The Meg’s waters should steer very far away from this spectacle, while for the rest of us that thought the prospect of Statham v Shark looked like a rollicking good-time, The Meg is exactly what the movie doctor ordered.

Filled with an abundance of questionable plot developments, poorly written supporting characters and some overly serious undertones, The Meg is far from what you’d call a particularly well-made film but for what it promises to deliver, which is CGI infused mammoth shark mayhem and thrills, The Meg is a highly enjoyable ride should you go along with its wave of unbelievable scenarios and cheesiness.

Based on Steve Alten’s series of books that have a cult following, The Meg’s focus on Statham’s hardy diver Jonas returning to the oceans after year’s out of the game to fight Jaw’s much bigger relative and save the world, provides The Meg with a collection of entertaining scenes from Statham continually saving his colleagues in frantic fashion through to Statham literally versing the finned beast in a man v shark fight, making the film work around its other missteps.

Unneeded romantic subplots and pointless and badly acted supports like Ruby Rose’s greasy haired Jaxx or Rain Wilson’s billionaire Morris try their best to subtract from the good times but thankfully director Jon Turteltaub and Statham steer the ship in the right direction at the right times.

Unquestionably the most disappointing aspect of The Meg (which has likely stemmed from the fact it went from mature rated blood bath to M rated thriller in the editing suite) is that is never truly enacts the type of carnage you think it will and while many trailers and marketing materials focussed on the what looks like a beach filled shark bonanza, the film unfortunately never uses its key player to the effect it could’ve, which is a shame, as you feel like had Mr Meg been let well and truly off the hook, The Meg would’ve become a far more memorable outing outside of the novelty of seeing an oversized shark trying to take down Statham and his crew.

Final Say –

The Meg is silly, preposterous and at times a little too serious for its own good but at the end of the day viewers heading into Turteltaub’s film have signed up to see a shark on steroids battling it out with Jason Statham and in that respect, cinema fans will get exactly what they paid for. In an age of po-faced blockbusters, The Meg may not reinvent the wheel, but it provides a fun and frivolous time out at the movies which is sometimes all we really need.

3 Pippins out of 5