Film Review: The Meg

Finally, a film that fully takes advantage of Jason Statham’s history as a professional swimmer and diver!

Jokes aside, I was not all familiar with the Meg series by author, Steve Alten, so consider me surprised when I realized Statham isn’t just here to be a part of the ensemble, he is straight up the lead, which is great since he’s a compelling, charismatic action star. Though, it’s also clear that he was cast here for his largely overseas popularity, along with Asian co-stars, Li Bingbing and Winston Chao, among a few others, as well as utilizing scenes taking place in Thailand and China. It honestly feels like it could be one of those super expensive Chinese blockbusters, not that it’s a bad thing. It’s just an observation.

The film is written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, amd directed by Jon Turteltaub, who has been behind films such as Cool Runnings, The Kid, and the National Treasure movies. It’s a total unabashed B-movie, so plot isn’t particularly its strong suit, but it basically follows Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham), a retired rescue diver, traumatized by his past, who is convinced to come back for one last job – no, I’m not making that up – so he joins his old friends as they stumble onto a Megalodon during a rescue mission. Now, as he comes face to face with the very thing that has haunted his past, Jonas and the crew have to figure out a way to stop the Meg before it is unleashed in the world, putting countless innocents at risk.

I love some good ol’ fashioned schlock, and that is all The Meg is really going for. It’s almost two hours of giant shark mayhem that comes at a solid pace, practically taking Roger Corman’s rule of having “something interesting happen every ten minutes” to heart. The body count starts rising quick, and it only builds momentum as it goes along, to the point where I didn’t mind that the film’s running time was a skosh egregious. The filmmakers also understand that the best schlock is done by not having the characters treat everything like a joke. There’s a misunderstanding that I’ve noticed from people’s reactions to movies like these, where they think unless a movie constantly jokes around, then it’s taking itself too seriously, when that simply doesn’t always have to be the case. The Meg isn’t a comedy, but it has sparks of humor that comes out of the characters like DJ (Page Kennedy), who is a part of the crew, or Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson), the tech billionaire funding the whole operation. Plus, the filmmakers often throw some minor touches to show the audience that this is all meant for good fun, and nothing more.

As the film goes on, I found myself compelled by the characters in between the action beats. It’s not necessarily because they’re particularly deep or interesting, but simply due to the fact that the crew is quite likable. It’s the kind of camaraderie you’d expect when you deal with people who spend a lot of time crammed in small spaces with one another. It can be expressed in moments such as DJ bantering with the Wall (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) or with tiny gestures such as Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai) high-fiving a crew member as he drives through the halls of the research facility. Jonas’ ex-wife, Lori (Jessica McNamee) is even among the crew, but the film doesn’t treat this like a big deal as it would in any other movie. He doesn’t try to win her back or anything, they simply remain good friends. Although, that’s likely due to the film pushing Jonas and another crew member, Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing), together, but even that isn’t given the kind of payoff you’d normally see in a big blockbuster.

If there’s any real problem with the movie, it’s that it feels held back by its PG-13 rating. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure the PG-rated Jaws had more blood and gore than this movie did. Perhaps it was a choice to cater more toward that overseas audience. However, it is the one choice that the film seemed eager to indulge in, but never given the satisfaction. It doesn’t even need to be any kind of gore fest, but seeing more blood coming out of the various attacks on the human characters would’ve made the threat that much more palpable. The filmmakers certainly try to keep things suspenseful, and it does mostly work, especially with its use of the darkness of the deep ocean. But anyone craving a blood lust will be disappointed.

I don’t know what you or anyone else might be expecting in The Meg, but for what it’s worth, I think it’s a reasonably well executed big budget B-movie. It’s a silly movie, but it keeps a straight face, which I think works to its advantage. The characters are engaging, and the film doesn’t treat them like expendable shark snacks, it allows us to spend time with them, as well letting them mourn the deaths of their friends. There is more thought put into this than other movies like it, even if that most of that thought wasn’t necessarily applied to all the shark stuff. It keeps its ambitions modest and delivers exactly what they advertised. I had a good time.