Director: Jon Turteltaub.
Starring: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Cliff Curtis.
Based on Steve Alten’s novel series with the first ‘Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror’ being published in 1997 which follows the deep sea adventures of Jonas Taylor; played by Statham; proving the existence of the Megalodon, a gigantic once-thought-extinct killer shark.
It had been an idea for a movie production since 2008 with Guillermo Del Toro as a potential director, and Eli Roth signing on in 2015, but resigned due to having creative differences. And then Disney regular Jon Turteltaub takes the helm, whose filmography has some loveable family favourites like Cool Runnings and National Treasure but is also responsible for 3 Ninja Kids and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
This definitely dives into the second camp and sinks rapidly, being something I would expect from an Emmerich and Devlin production. It’s either very weak, or incredibly lazy writing that just makes this movie away from unbelievable to outrageously silly. I’m so close to saying this is Sharknado on a bigger budget!
Not having read any of the books, I’m not sure how closely this follows the story and can only assume much has been added for dramatic effect. But I feel way too much has been laid on, biting chunks from other deep sea and shark attack films of the past and attempting to squeeze them all into bite size pieces. I can see The Abyss, Deep Blue Sea and obviously Jaws all displayed here, but is all just becomes a mega unbalanced mess.
I wonder what Alten’s thinks of his creation and I wonder if this has made an absolute mockery of the books? And let’s keep in mind there’s another seven books in the series so could this be a franchise to just milk the box office?
It’s obviously about the Megalodon, the prehistoric shark that can grow to 65ft in length, this being the antagonist as it tried to chomp as many things and people as possible. The VFX are above sea level and apart from Gregson-Williams’ adventurous score, is the only good thing going for it. But it’s loaded with cheap scares and idiotic scenarios which make you laugh in disbelief yet lacks any real gore only to be granted the 12A certification.
There’s an attempt on character development but because of the weak performances and constantly moving swiftly on, it’s difficult to feel anything for the characters. Again, possibly being far too much. Statham is the obvious washed-up hero who swims about at every heroic opportunity which results in it being impossible to take this film seriously. But then I wonder if they ever intended this to be taken seriously. Sadly for Statham, I just see Statham and nothing much of the character he’s suppose to be playing.
I knew this was going to be bad, but not this bad, and maybe being in the wave of M:I - Fallout’s success that shows what a great action movie should look like it’s getting a bad rep and it might appease thrill seekers who swoon over brainless entertainment, but it’s mega-something and certainly not the don of anything.
Running Time: 4
The Cast: 3
Performance: 2
Direction: 3
Story: 2
Script: 1
Creativity: 3
Soundtrack: 4
Job Description: 1
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
23% 2/10
