We’ve seen plenty of films over the years that center around one of the most fearsome creatures on planet Earth, the shark. Of course, when you think ‘shark films’, the first one that comes to mind is Jaws, the 1975 adaptation of author Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel of the same name that revolutionized the blockbuster genre and effectively launched the career of the one and only Steven Spielberg. But there have been a few other shark-themed films that have come out since then, like 1999’s Deep Blue Sea and last year’s 47 Meters Down just to name a few. Granted, none of these films have really earned the same kind of critical or commercial success as Jaws (this even includes Jaws’ own trio of sequels, none of which Steven Spielberg was involved with), but that doesn’t mean that the concept has become outdated in any way. Just look at the continuing success of Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week programming block. And thus, here we are with the latest entry in this long-running genre of film, The Meg, which has had quite the notable history when it comes to its production. First off, the film serves as an adaptation of Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, which was published in 1997 by author Steve Alten and has since gone on to spawn six sequels. The year before, plans for a film adaptation were initiated but the project ended up in development hell for quite some time, shifting through multiple studios (including Disney, who first purchased the rights) before ending up at Warner Bros. After that, Eli Roth was slated to direct, but he ultimately backed out of the project, mainly due to creative conflicts with the studio over his plans to make it a bloody R-rated big-budget blockbuster. Ultimately, directing duties went to veteran filmmaker Jon Turteltaub (Cool Runnings, the National Treasure films), and what comes out of this is a gloriously cheesy popcorn flick that you’re either going to find stupidly awesome or just plain stupid.
Off the coast of China, scientists in a massive underwater research facility known as Mana One plan on sending a submersible down into the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point on the planet, when it appears that there may be some unexplored parts of the ocean that haven’t been discovered yet. However, the operation soon goes south when the submersible ends up getting attacked by a large creature, effectively trapping it and its crew on the ocean floor. To save them, Mana One crew member James ‘Mac’ Mackreides (Cliff Curtis) suggests that they recruit his old friend Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham), a former rescue diver who also happened to get caught up in a similar situation five years prior when a rescue operation was beset by a mysterious creature. Despite his hesitation to return to the sea after that previous rescue mission resulted in the deaths of two of his crewmates, Jonas ultimately agrees to help when he learns that his ex-wife Lori (Jessica McNamee) is one of the trapped crew members. But as Jonas embarks back down to the ocean depths, he and the crew of Mana One learn the identity of this mysterious creature, a megalodon shark. Long thought to be extinct, the largest shark on record manages to escape from the depths of the Mariana Trench, hellbent on devouring anything that crosses its path. Thus, this now puts pressure on Jonas and the rest of the Mana One crew, including financier Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson), scientist Minway Zhang (Winston Chao), and his daughter, oceanographer Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing), to try and stop the creature before it can cause any further mayhem.
To be perfectly frank, if you’ve seen the trailers for this film, then you’ll have a decently clear idea of what it’s going to be like. The Meg is a goofy blockbuster styled like a B-movie that’s light on the plot and character development but manages to be a decently entertaining shark flick once the titular shark starts doing its thing. However, I do want to emphasize the phrase ‘once the titular shark starts doing its thing’ because if there’s one major parallel that this film shares with Jaws, it’s that it does the same thing that Jaws did in that it takes a while before it properly reveals the shark. And simply put, this isn’t quite as successful as Jaws was when it comes to this aspect of the narrative. But like I said before, when the film does get into the whole plot of the main characters hunting the shark, it manages to overcome its slow start to produce some enjoyably over-the-top action sequences. A lot of what works in this film is also due to its solid ensemble cast, who work quite well together. Jason Statham is solid as always doing what he does best AKA being Jason Statham. He also has some nice chemistry with Li Bingbing, who thankfully isn’t just relegated to being Statham’s love interest. Granted, there are a few instances where she does get saved by him, but at the same time, she gets just as involved with hunting down the shark as he does. In fact, she’s quite arguably the biggest standout of the cast, which also includes reliable supporting players like Cliff Curtis and Rainn Wilson, the latter of whom basically carries over his Dwight Schrute persona from The Office as the primary comic relief.
Quite a lot can be said about what this film could’ve been. Had Eli Roth stayed on to direct it, this probably would’ve been a no-holds-barred R-rated shark film with the budget of a studio tentpole. Heck, Jon Turteltaub has even admitted that some gorier sequences were shot before they had to be toned down to maintain a PG-13 rating. And unfortunately, it doesn’t seem likely that these scenes will see the light of day due to the necessity for extra VFX work on what would ultimately end up being nothing more than a bonus feature for the home video release. Still, even as a ‘toned down’ shark film, The Meg is, at the very least, decent popcorn entertainment. To be clear, there’s absolutely nothing Oscar-worthy about this film, but as an end of summer flick, it’s satisfying enough to overlook some of its issues. For starters, while it doesn’t start off on the best of notes, things do improve once it gets into exactly what it advertises; in other words, Jason Statham and crew vs. a giant shark. And really, Statham and the rest of the cast are quite arguably the best thing about this film due to their solid camaraderie. From the looks of it, they had a lot of fun making this film and it translates nicely to the final product. Thus, my thoughts on this film are ultimately not that far off from my thoughts on last year’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard, which was also an ‘end of summer’ blockbuster that proved to be solidly entertaining despite its overall simplicity. In other words, if you just want to see a film where Jason Statham takes on a giant shark, then The Meg will probably satisfy that urge.
Rating: 3.5/5
And don’t forget to vote for your favorite film from this past summer by going to the link below to partake in Rhode Island Movie Corner’s 5th annual End of Summer Fan Vote. Voting ends August 26th.
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