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Film: The Meg
Year: 2018
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writer: Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber
Starring: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li and Rainn Wilson
Review:
This was a film that I was intrigued by when I first started to see previews for it in the theater. Shark films aren’t my favorite, but I do think they are fun. I also have a deep fear of open water and what’s at the bottom of the ocean. The official synopsis for this film is after escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor must confront his fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible.
The synopsis is a little bit misleading. Jonas (Jason Statham) is a diver that goes down that is used for rescue missions. What ends up being his last one, something is attacking the sub that he is working in. Heller (Robert Taylor) doesn’t believe him, but Jonas seals off the other sub, leaving behind his two team members and others on the sub. Heller believes that Jonas was losing it due to the pressure, but we never actually see what is ramming into the sub.
In present time, Morris (Rainn Wilson) arrives at an underwater research facility that he is paying for. It is run by Zhang (Winston Chao). He has a team of his own daughter, Suyin (Bingbing Li), Mac (Cliff Curtis), Jaxx (Ruby Rose), DJ (Page Kennedy) and Heller. They believe the ocean is deeper than we thought. They think the Marina Trench has a layer of cold water that is hiding a deeper portion. A team of The Wall (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), Lori (Jessica McNamee) and Toshi (Masi Oka) go down in a sub to try to prove this. They do, but then they are attacked by something. This strands them at the bottom.
The film does well at making us think that it is something else, but we know it is the Megalodon that did this as well as attack when Jonas was trying to save those men. He is convinced to come back to help only because it is his ex-wife that is stranded down there. It also allows him to prove he wasn’t insane, which Heller is convinced of.
This really becomes your typical action film. There are horror elements. You have nature run amuck, you have some blood, but it was decided to go PG-13 so that cut down a lot of that. It is really cheesy with some of the lines and dialogue. It also really pushes together Jonas and Suyin. What makes this awkward is Lori, Jonas’ ex is here, but the film plays it off like it’s not a big deal. Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai) is Suyin’s daughter. I found her to be adorable.
I do have to give the film that is paced well. We establish the back-story, then we get right into the problem that will be the crux of the film. It then keeps presenting problems that are solved, but then other problems are then introduced. I was surprised by some of the things they did for the story. They weren’t amazing, but it did keep the film at least enjoyable. I will say that I did want more shark in this film. It takes 30+ minutes to really see one and then we get a little bit too much time in-between attacks. The ending was your typical action ending that I was not really impressed by.
As for the acting, I have to lead off with the star Statham. He did exactly you expect and want from him. He gets to show off his abs and he does really good in these action type films. Li was pretty good as the female lead in the film. I like her back and forth with Statham. The romance they try to really push in this film was a bit awkward though. Wilson is solid as the rich guy who turns out to be a jerk. Curtis, Chao, Rose and the rest of the team I also thought were solid. Shout-out to Cai for being the cute kid in the film.
I will say that the effects in this film are good. The sharks and other sea life look really good. You have to come in knowing this is going to be a CGI-fest, which it is, but it was well done. I don’t have an issue with CGI when it is done properly. I would have liked to see more blood, but the attack scenes were still pretty good. The film does cut away to avoid showing more, which I didn’t have major issues with.
The score of the film I was thought was fitting for what they needed it to do. It does help to build tension, but it didn’t overpower the scenes. It is used for a couple of jump-scares. I’m not the biggest fan of them, but it does work and there are some unexpected things.
Now with that said, I didn’t mind this film. I was slightly disappointed to hear that they went PG-13 with this film, but it makes sense why they went that route. The story behind how this starts was good. I did enjoy that aspect of the film. I don’t even mind the back-story of Jonas and what he is trying to help do. I thought the film was paced well, I never really got bored. I did want to see more shark and attacks in this film though. I thought the acting was solid, there was just some dialogue that was a little off. There also was some romance that felt forced and a little too much humor. The effects were also good, I had no issues there. The soundtrack was fitting for what they needed it to do. Overall I would say that this film was a slight disappointment for the horror side of me. It is definitely more of an action film. It is a popcorn flick that I had fun with. I still think it is above average.
My Rating: 7 out of 10