The Meg - Film Review
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The Meg is a fun sharksploitation film, which pretty much has everything you'd expect from an M rated (or PG 13 for those in the US) movie featuring a giant killer shark.
Based on the book series of the same name, written by Steve Alten (
The Shark Is Still Working and
Jurassic Fight Club), this epic science fiction action film, directed by Jon Turteltaub (
National Treasure and
Instinct) and written by Dean Georgaris (
Life Of Pi and 2003's
Paycheck), Jon Hoeber (2010's
Red and
Battleship) and Erich Hoeber (
Whiteout and
The Last Witch Hunter) is an action-packed horror comedy about friendship, family, love and death... By prehistoric shark of course!
The soundtrack for this film really stands out, with a number of instrumental pieces, including one which has a
Jaws theme feel to it and a Thai cover of
"Micky" by Pim, which is the best version of that song I have ever heard!
After a scientific expedition to newly found depths beneath the sea goes horribly wrong, Jonas Taylor, played by Jason Statham (
Furious 7 and 2015's
Spy) who is a rescue diver and had been AWOL, is sought out to head a rescue mission to the bottom of the sea to recover the missing crew. The crew consists of his ex-wife Lori, played by Jessica McNamee (
Packed To The Rafters and 2012's
The Vow) and the hilarious duo known only as Toshi, played by Masi Oka (
Heroes and 2008's
Get Smart) and The Wall, played by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (
The Spy Who Dumped Me and
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald), who is fast becoming one of my new favorite actors!
After a daring rescue, which does not go at all to plan, the survivors are reunited with their crew at "Mana One" which is a high tech research facility in the middle of the ocean. However, they horrifyingly discover that they have accidentally unleashed a gigantic prehistoric predatory fish, thought to be long extinct called the Megalodon!
Scarily enough, Megalodons were real animals which lived 23 to 2.6 million years ago!
The rest of this film is a scary, thrilling and action packed race against time for our hero crew, consisting of Jonas, The Wall and their friends and fellow workmates; Dr. Minway Zhang, played by Winston Chao (
1911 and
Road To Dawn), who is the director of his organisation, his beautiful daughter Suyin, played perfectly by Li Bingbing (
Resident Evil: Retribution and 2008's
The Forbidden Kingdom) who is an oceanographer, living on the research station with her young daughter Meiying, played by ShuYa Sophia Cai (2015's
Somewhere Only We Know), who absolutely shines in the spotlight in each and every one of her scenes, playing her character with the utmost of believability and is really one of the greatest stars of this film. I cannot wait to see what she does next in her budding career.
Also in the crew are a psychologist named Dr. Heller, played by Robert Taylor (2007's
Rogue and
The Matrix), who initially has a hard time believing the existence of the Meg. James "Mac" Mackreides, played by Cliff Curtis (
Whale Rider and 2007's
Sunshine), DJ, played by Page Kennedy (2003's
S.W.A.T. and
Freaky Deaky), Jaxx, played by Ruby Rose (
Orange Is The New Black and
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter) and a billionaire named Jack Morris, played by Rainn Wilson (
Super and
Juno), who funded the project in the first place. While his character is absolutely greedy and loathsome for the most part, he is also one of the highlights of the film.
For a movie being touted as one of the scariest death from the deep films of our time, it is really more of a comedy than anything else. With tons of hilarious moments, which isn't a bad thing at all, including the depiction of karma in action, when the Meg strikes out against a group of shark fin fishermen and an incredible scene with an awesome boy on the beach, played by Wei Yu in his debut role, who is more interested in eating his ice cream than all the chaos going on around him. This is a small, yet stand out performance and I truly hope that Wei will go on to further his acting career.
As the film goes on, more swimmers and boat crews begin to disappear beneath the sea, as the shark's insatiable appetite is ever growing. However there is a disappointing lack of gore, compared to how it was originally going to be made and a lot of the more "extreme" scenes were cut from the film, so it could be given a US PG 13 rating at the box office. This is such a shame, as I would much prefer to see the original ideas brought to life and I really do hope that the scenes and storyboards which were removed will end up being released on the Blu-ray and DVD, as it would be a wasted opportunity otherwise.
The Meg is rated M as it contains scenes of science fiction and action.
Click here now to get a photo of yourself being eaten by the meg!
6.5/10
For more death from the deep films, check out:
Jurassic Shark
Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws
Shark! (Caine)
Sharknado
The Shallows
Spring Break: Shark Attack
Blue Demon
Malibu Shark Attack
Sand Sharks
Devil Fish (Monster Shark)
Swamp Shark
The Blue Lagoon
The Impossible
Piranha Piranha
Piranha (1978)
DinoCroc
The Bay
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
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86220 - 2023-06-11 07:19:51