THE MEG

THE MEG is a science fiction action movie about a group of scientists who accidently unleash a megalodon shark from the depths of the ocean.

Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is a rescue diver and the only living person who’s executed a rescue under water below 10,000 meters. During the last rescue he performed, his vessel was attacked by something deep within the ocean, and Jonas had to abandon two of his friends in order to save everyone else. This loss haunts Jonas. He gives up deep water rescues, and his reputation is shot because no one believes his tale about a creature that can destroy subs.

Five years later, a state-of-the-art ocean research facility off the coast of China is preparing to explore crevices in the ocean others didn’t even know existed. The research is funded by billionaire Jack Morris (Rain Wilson), but the head scientist is Dr. Minway Zhang, who’s aided by his daughter Suyin who lives on the facility with her young daughter, Meiying. Dr. Zhang hypothesizes that the deepest part of the ocean, which they thought was solid ground, is actually a bunch of gases hiding a whole other underwater world.

A team of three people in a submarine submerge through the gas and happily discover that Dr. Zhang was completely right. It’s not long before they’re attacked by the megalodon shark, a 70-90 foot beast that can destroy anything in the water. The team become stranded at the bottom of the ocean and are losing air.

Up above at the research facility, James Mackreides knows the only person that can rescue them is his old friend Jonas. He knows he’ll be able to convince Jonas to help because Jonas’s ex-wife is among the three stranded people.

Jonas shows up just in time, but what they discover is that by exploring that part of the ocean, they disrupted the gasses that were keeping the megalodon from being released. Now, the meg is out and is ready to destroy and kill and everything in its path.

THE MEG is an often goofy, but mostly fun adventure. It doesn’t have the craftmanship of JAWS, and the movie doesn’t hide the fact that the plot is hokey. At one point, the billionaire Morris, played by the very funny Rainn Wilson who many know as Dwight on the hit show THE OFFICE, makes a suggestion that they should shoot the meg with a tracker and then asks, “Haven’t you guys watched Shark Week?”

For the most part, the cast’s chemistry never really develops, and the dialogue that tries to be serious and somber is extremely forced. However, if viewers go in only looking for laughs and thrills, they shouldn’t be disappointed. The meg is a worthy villain. Able to bite a humpback whale in half and swim at incredible speeds, the creature will have viewers jumping out of their seats, especially if they already live with a fear of the water.

THE MEG has a positive message of heroism and bravery. The hero, Jonas, has a reputation of not being able to save everyone, and some consider him to be a coward. Jonas proves, however, that he does care about saving everyone, and frequently puts his life in danger to save others. THE MEG does have some foul language and scary moments, so caution is advised for viewers.

Thanks to the SHARKNADO series on the SyFy channel, the shark genre has become somewhat of a joke since no one has been able to match Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece JAWS. THE MEG falls more in line with recent giant creature flicks like PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING or RAMPAGE. Happily, it manages to be more exciting and more scary than those movies, despite the weak writing. Many teenagers and adults may enjoy this popcorn flick, so long as that’s all they expect from it.