“The Meg”– Movie Review

This week, I attended an advanced screening of the new action-adventure, “The Meg”, starring Jason Statham. 

Synopsis

When scientists discover an immense prehistoric shark, can it be stopped before it endangers a vast number of people?

Story

Five years after a traumatic event that saw a loss of human life,  Jonas (Statham) has effectively checked-out.  Spending his days drinking beer in Thailand, he is resistant to the beseeching of oceanographers who beg him to come out of retirement as an expert rescue diver in order to save members of their team who have been trapped underwater.  Jonas turns them down flatly until he learns that one of those people happens to be his ex-wife.  With that in mind, Jonas reluctantly agrees to take the assignment – but what he doesn’t yet know is that all of this is related to his last mission.  

This time around, Jonas is somewhat more successful:  he is able to save two of the people – including his ex-wife – but one of them perishes.  As tragic as that may be, the group soon come to realize that there is something of much greater concern – the reason why these people were left stranded in their vessel is because it was damaged when it was attacked by the same sea creature that killed the men on Jonas’ previous dive. After further research, they come to realize that this creature was officially called a Megalodon – basically, a prehistoric shark approximately 70-90 feet in length which scientists assumed was extinct long ago. 

Jonas is then determined to join the others in taking out “The Meg”, as they now call the beast.  He now sets out with Suyin (Li Bingbing), the daughter of the oceanographer who is heading the team; as a scientist herself, she is an expert on the biology of this particular type of shark and her expertise would prove helpful.  Together, they successfully track the shark and entice it into a confrontation.  After killing the shark, their celebration comes to an abrupt end once they find out that there is a second Meg and it is now headed to a populous resort community.  Can Jonas and Suyin find and destroy the other Meg before it attacks the tourists?  

Review

Is “The Meg” a perfect movie?  Absolutely not. Is “The Meg” a great movie?  No. But that said, for all of its flaws, “The Meg” may be the right movie at the right time.  What does that mean? Well, we are currently in what is known as the mid-summer doldrums; all of the major releases have already been in theaters (and some may even still be there).  Anything left over is often held until August and the next set of major releases usually occur post-Labor Day (often, late September). Therefore, August releases can frequently be considered second-rate fare.  While there may be some validity in that theory, there are occasional exceptions and arguably, “The Meg” may be one.

Although “The Meg” will certainly not go down as this generation’s version of “Jaws” or even an underwater version of “Jurassic Park” (despite that’s probably how it was positioned during the pitch meeting), it’s a decent popcorn movie seen in a big-screen theater with plenty of air conditioning and comfy seats.  This is especially true if you’ve already seen the major blockbuster releases (or if you’ve missed them and they’re already out of the theaters). Despite its shortcomings, “The Meg” is not without its own appeal, albeit limited. For Jason Statham fans, that’s enough justification to buy a ticket.  

The film is trite and formulaic – which can be a good thing if you’re looking for mere entertainment rather than something a bit more challenging.  There is the edge-of-society action hero, the romance, the feminist aspect, the sense of family and the anti-corporate hatred (Rainn Wilson plays a nefarious venture capitalist who gets his comeuppance in the third act).  Is “The Meg” worth spending the extra bucks for 3-D or IMAX if it’s available in your area? Probably not. But if you’re in the mood for pure escapism that’s not terribly demanding, you could probably make worse choices than “The Meg”.