The Meg – Film Review

Shark films have pretty low standards when it comes today in film. There are several ‘Sharknado’ films on SyFy these days that are just beyond ridiculous that make Jaws look like cinema gold (which it is) but the point is that shark films should have higher standards. The appeal of this film is to make a shark movie where the shark is so big that eats anything basically. I was surprised when I watched this film the first half of the film had nothing to do with being ridiculous or over the top. It was more straight forward, small and focused on a redemptive arc for Jason Statham’s character which was more entertaining for me than just egregious bad shark porn.

Li Bingbing was cast as a bridge appeal to the Eastern market to connect both audiences to have a more global appeal, which makes sense. This is a more sensible way to go than what Universal did with ‘The Wall’ in 2016. The film does make an effort to have a diverse cast across the board with an Asian lead who is popular in Eastern markets. I do applaud those efforts. Rainn Wilson gives off the most impression on the film in the supporting cast. He has some funny lines and shows off his comedic ability. Though his character got a bit annoying at times rather than interesting over the course of the film.

He looks heroic… but he’s kinda got a negative attitude.

The weaknesses of the film do weigh it down a lot. There is a bit of predictability to the film and the tone switches so much that its hard to take serious at times. The writing of the film just feels choppy and unpolished, it could have been cleaner but its the best disaster based movie I have seen in a long time. The people who I thought would die did die, and there were some good jumps when you knew they were going to do it. The shark was well executed when it was on screen. I was interested in the science behind it living in a lower level of the ocean floor and the exploring of a new world humans haven’t been before.

Overall I would say this film is not a must see in theaters, something to watch on a lazy afternoon or to stream when you wanna watch something with a bit of ocean flair. I wouldn’t say its the best shark movie by a mile but its definitely less ridiculous than ‘Sharknado.’ This movie was profitable and they could make more since this film is based off one of the many books in a book series. If they do decide to make another one, I would really just focus on getting a better script down before going behind cameras.

6/10