The Meg
(2018)The most feared predator in history... is no longer history.
Jason Statham, Bingbing Li and Winston Chao star in this deep sea monster sci-fi thriller adapted from Steve Alten's New York Times best-seller.... More
A deep-sea submersible - part of an international undersea observation program - has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li), to save the crew from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon.Hide
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Directed by Jon Turteltaub ('National Treasure', 'The Kid', 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice')
Starring Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Winston Chao, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Jessica McNamee, Robert Taylor, Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, Masi Oka
Written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber (based on the novel 'Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror' by Steve Alten)
Flicks Review
BY Aaron Yap Flicks Writer
Where recent entries into the sharksploitation genre, The Shallows and 47 Meters Down, wrung sweats and jitters from tautly slimmed-down scenarios, The Meg, with its larger cast, budget, international reach (and, of course, prehistoric star), announces itself as an outsized juggernaut to be reckoned with.... More
Certainly, the megalodon – a 75-foot long shark that’s risen from the cavernous depths of the Marianas Trench – is a big-screen beast worthy of inspiring awe. However, despite those fearsome proportions, the film around it is less nerve-wracking shocker and more watchably goofy creature-feature that’s a few brain cells and pixels sharper than your average Sharknado-level mock-buster. And it goes without saying, National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub, isn’t exactly Spielberg nor Cameron when it comes to finessing this particular kind of movie.
The bulk of The Meg’s entertainment value hinges on the juiced-up mayhem confined to the final third, which puts Sanya Bay beachgoers, a pup named Pippin and a reliably po-faced Jason Statham into the crosshairs of the titular predator. Statham is undoubtedly the most ideal iron-torsoed lead who isn’t Dwayne Johnson for this role, but action-wise, the film could’ve benefited from more R-rated absurdity – think Deep Blue Sea – to counter its bland, somewhat neutered surfaces.
The supporting cast acquit themselves serviceably in broadly sketched parts (comic tension-diffuser, tech-expert resource, meet-cute pairings, rich asshole, and Cliff Curtis), while token environmentalist concerns – chiefly Man’s capacity to destroy their natural discoveries – bring a smidgen of thematic heft to all the mid-range silliness.
Moderately satisfactory jaw-chomping fun, especially if you’re remotely curious about the prospect of watching Statham play chicken with a giant shark.Hide
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The Meg
The Press Reviews
Of all the thrillers made about tender, juicy humans splashing away from ravenous giant sharks, The Meg is undeniably the most recent. Full Review
The Meg ends up being just a high-budget, low-value attempt to sell you a typical tale of a tortured man tracking a monster, composed of spare parts lifted from other films you love. Full Review
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters when it could be spending it with, you know, the giant shark. Full Review
The Meg, stolidly directed by Jon Turteltaub, winds up proving a fairly obvious theory about its chosen sub-genre: the more massive the shark (and the budget), the lighter the scares and the lower the stakes. Full Review
Shark. Weak. Full Review
Not quite killer, but it's rare to see a 21st-century blockbuster having this much fun - right through to its sign-off - with its own premise. Full Review
The Meg proves only that, at least cinematically speaking, great-white movies may have finally jumped the shark. Full Review
"The Meg" doesn't seem to know how dumb it is. Full Review
Self-awareness is all well and good in a giant shark movie, but not when it undercuts the tension. Full Review
The kind of arrogant, ostentatious laziness that only a very specific stripe of nine figure film can aspire to… Full Review
A shark movie that's too slow, too talkative and too concerned with being a 'good' film. Full Review
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