Firstly a huge disclaimer, as a fan of Meg, the book this film is based on by Steve Alten, we had waited 20 years for The Meg movie to surface, so we went in with a sense of hope, desperate to enjoy it and wanting it to do well.
The film opens with a sequence where in the middle of a deep-sea rescue, it would appear the sub in peril is being attacked by something mysterious, Jonas (Jason Statham) manages to rescue some crew members including Heller (Robert Taylor) but the attacks means he has to make a decision to leave some members behind before the submarine will explode.
No one believes him that the sub was attacked and is subsequently relieved of duty and ends up in Thailand working with a fishing crew, drinking his life away.
All that changes when a unique underwater research station set up by Zhang (Winston Chao) after funding from billionaire Morris (Rainn Wilson) sends a sub to research the Mariana Trench at depths lower than anyone has been prepared to go.
The mysterious object returns and damages a sub piloted by Jonas ex-wife, Lori (Jessica McNamee) which is now running out of air, leaving a perilous race against time to save them.
Mac (Cliff Curtis) believes his good but an estranged friend is one of the only sub divers in the world who could attempt a rescue, which angers Heller who is also assigned to the research station. Suyin (BingBing Li), daughter of Zhang, believes she can attempt it but her father won’t allow it, especially as she is the mother of the young Mei Ying (Shuya Sophia Cai)
Zhang agrees with Mac that Jonas is the best man and sends him to get the diver out of his drink fuelled lifestyle.
Jonas makes the mission and saves his ex-wife from the submarine before it explodes. The explosion however makes the waters warm enough for the mysterious object, a Megalodon shark to rise to the surface and cause complete carnage.
Jonas therefore needs to take on the biggest challenge of his life and hunt and kill the shark before it can reach the waters full of bathers. This gives plenty of action sequences alongside some cheesy dialogue and despite the great book it is based on, this isn’t a film that wants to take itself seriously, it just wants to entertain.
Also, unlike so many Summer blockbusters, this film comes in at under 2 hours so there is never any real lull in action and during its time even delivers messages about shark finning, as well as some great nods to other classic films, especially the Jaws franchise as the Meg leaves a trail at carnage, especially in one of the big action sequences which sees her reach the local beach.
The film ends with a final challenge of Jonas v Shark but who will win?
In some ways we have to be disappointed as the film bears very little resemblance to the book we loved, which had us so keen for tickets but for entertainment, this film is head; shoulders and fins over every other one we have seen this year and we loved every mad packed second as film ends up as a hybrid Godzilla like creature feature more in line with the likes of Pacific Rim than the more normal Shark film of the likes of The Shallows and of course Jaws.
Director Jon Turteltaub, best known for his National Treasure films & of course Cool Runnings, has delivered a great entertaining big-budget B-movie worthy of its big screen release, The book was one of Six and we certainly would love to see The Meg return and hope for a sequel.
The reality is you will pretty much know from the trailer if this is the film is for you or if you think it will insult your intelligence. Going in expecting a fun blockbuster, we think you will be hard pressed to find a better one this year, go in expecting Jaws and quite frankly you will be disappointed.
Watch the trailer here:
You can pre-order the film at Amazon here:
You can find the book here: