Name: The Meg Review, Good Old Fashioned Fun in the Ocean
Item: The Meg
Author: @triverse

Fans of shark movies have an extremely high watermark for any new comers to meet. This is more often then not set at the original Jaws movie from the 1970’s. That is fine with me, I love the original myself and view The Meg as more in that style rather than an attempt at replacing the classic shark film (I am ignoring the follow-ups). The Meg is my first renting a movie in a long while - I have been wanting to see this one in theaters but piddled around too long and missed that chance. This left me enjoying the movie in the comfy confines of my own home on Christmas day with not much else planned. What I got was more than I was expecting and that is always a good thing.

As with most shark movies in recent decades (Deep Blue Sea being another good one), we are given a scene out in the middle of the ocean. This automatically eliminates a lot of the tension that you felt the first time you watched Jaws, which was initially set near a beach in a very close to home edginess that is hard to replicate without flat out copying. Maybe that is why beach scenes are often used “later” in the movie and not nearly as instrumental to the plot as they were in Jaws.

The Meg kicks things off with a sunken nuclear submarine which Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is attempting to rescue sailors from. Taylor is scared off from the rescue mission due to his fear of the return of a large sea creature that caused the initial disaster. Obviously the people on the surface don’t believe Taylor and Dr. Heller passes a diagnosis of pressure-induced psychosis while holding a grudge over the failed rescue mission.

Fast forward half a decade and we meet the financier of the latest deep sea research facility to become the central point of an ocean based action/horror movie. Mana One houses several characters that we get to know throughout the film, some are family, others are just friends, and then there is Jack Morris, the billionaire jerk. Don’t worry, he ends up like most rich jerks do in movies like this.

The reason for Mana One is research on the Mariana trench and just what is the actual bottom. Research father/daughter Dr. Minway Zhang and daughter Suyin, believe the “bottom” is not actually the bottom and that there is more to the trench than thought.

Unfortunately, they are right and this is where things go nuts for the three person research team that learns what is under the thermocline cloud of hydrogen sulfide.

The three person team are attacked and stranded deep in the ocean and those on the surface must now convince Taylor, who has written off diving since his failure five years prior, to come back and help them.

Obviously Taylor does agree and we are off to the deep sea creature feature.

First, the build up to the shark debuting is key in movies like this. The Meg has this paced nearly perfectly and there is even a swerve in there that really amps up the fun.

First, there are more giant sea creatures here than just a megalodon shark, there is a giant squid that makes you feel scared when it makes its appearance, though it is short lived, the screen time it commands is enough to make you wonder “what else is out there under the waves” as it should.

There are some breaking of the fourth wall moments such as when Shark Week is brought up by the billionaire jerk. This was a pretty funny one, at least I thought so as it was unexpected, even though it was spoiled in one of the commercials for the movie. It was still fun and helped give the movie a lighter edge than may have been intended. There are nods to Jaws as well when we get the obligatory beach scene. I won’t ruin the event completely, just suffice, it was a well done scene that will have you on the edge of your seat till it is over. Much like the scene was in Jaws, at least for me, the first time I saw it.

Obviously, realism takes a backseat to the action here but for the most part, a lot of it is believable for the moment. One problem I had was with the way submersibles were used in the film - they simply don’t work that way. Other than that, it was easy to just let those things slip by as the film unfolded.

Considering the plot point being what is underneath the floor of the Mariana trench, there is plenty of room for sequels, and according to executive producer, Catherine Xujun Ying in October, we are going to see at least one sequel to The Meg. For me, that is great news and I will definitely be catching this one in theaters just to help add to the earnings it gets - maybe this sequel will be handled better than those in famous franchises of the past.