2018 Film Review: The Meg (2018)

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Written by: Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, based upon the book by Steve Alten
Starring: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson
IMDb Link

I actually had a pretty decent time with this. It's soulless, entertaining schlock with only a smattering of themes and surprisingly good character work, and it has Jason Statham going toe to tooth with with gigantic shark; you don't need anything else to make a movie watchable.

Jason Statham fights a Megalodon. There's some other stuff about him being a rescue diver with PTSD and a romantic subplot with Li Bingbing, and some corporate nonsense that feels ripped straight out of Deep Blue Sea, and while all of that's bearable (and even adorable in the case of Statham's interactions with Li's daughter; the guy's soft side is great), none of it really matters, because this is a movie about Jason Statham fighting a giant monster shark. That shark is truly a monster too, by the way; no attempt is made here to even try to be realistic, the giant shark kills indiscriminately and constantly, like any good movie serial killer. That said, the movie's disappointingly toothless at points; it's difficult to find the balance between gratuitous and restrained in a movie that's so inherently excessive, but I was surprised that, by the time the bloodbath rolled around, it was only half as long and as violent as expected. That said, once again, Jason Statham fights a giant monster shark; that's basically this movie's one and only selling point, and they sell it over and over again. If that sounds like the sort of thing that interests you, by all means, see this. If not, there's really else here.

That said, I'm giving this movie credit for its sense of humour and its tension. The film is fairly bland for the most part, but it's at least aware of the silliness inherent in the story, so for all of its cheap and obvious emotional moments that the movie feels it has to have in order to not seem like a total joke, there was a (mostly) solid tonal consistency. There's also appropriately tense moments wrought out of the sheer power and intimidation of the shark; and in case I forgot to mention it, Jason Statham fights a giant monster shark, so the movie has that going for it too. 

The Short Version: Jason Statham fights a giant monster shark. Enough said.

Rating: 5.5/10

Published August 19th, 2018