The Meg (2018)

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub | 114 minutes | action, horror | Actors: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Shuya Sophia Cai, Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jessica McNamee, Masi Oka, Raymond Vinten, Hongmei Mai

Shark movies are now as widespread as vampire movies. “The Meg,” from director Jon Turteltaub (“Instinct,” “National Treasure”) starring Jason Statham (“Transporter,” “The Expendables”), tries to give it a fun twist by playing 21st-century sharks. replaced by the prehistoric basking shark Megalodon. We’ve seen that before in D-movies like ‘Shark Attack 3: Megalodon’, but not yet on the big screen. However, the result is somewhat disappointing.

‘The Meg’ starts off promisingly: After a mysterious attack during a dive, rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) quits his job. Years later, he is called upon after a similar attack on a deep-sea research center run by Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing). Before long, they discover that what Taylor has been saying all these years is true: there is a Megalodon, a giant shark that should have been extinct for millions of years.

It can’t be the talent involved: Turteltaub and Statham have both made entertaining films before, and Li is a good opponent for Statham. However, the uninspired script doesn’t get much out of either the characters or the wonderfully pulpy concept. After exciting opening scenes exploring an undiscovered stretch of deep sea, the film degenerates into a series of unlikely confrontations with the Megalodon. First of all, you wonder why such a large shark, which in reality probably hunted whales, is interested in those little people at all. In addition, the film asks a lot of ‘suspension of disbelief’ for the strange plans with which Statham and his associates attack the Megalodon. Why does this work, and why do they even stand a chance? Enough movies get away with it, but ‘The Meg’ simply has too weak a script to perform this.

The film performs best on the special effects front: the shark looks impressive and the action is entertaining at times. However, anyone who has ever seen the docudrama ‘Sea Monsters’ (a spin-off of the famous ‘Walking With Dinosaurs’ presented by Nigel Marven) knows that the BBC managed to do this much better 15 years earlier with a fraction of the budget. to do. Given the long preparation time – Jan ‘Twister’ de Bont had wanted to make ‘The Meg’ ten years earlier – it really could and should have been better on all fronts, and that’s a shame.