THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When we explore the ocean, we can find things that were never meant to be found. A fine example has to be The Meg.
PLOT
Based on the novel by Steve Allen, the 2018 film follows billionaire Jack Morris visit an underwater research facility he's funding, Mana One. The facility's team include: oceanographer Minway Zhang (Winston Chao), his daughter Suyin, managing researcher James Mackreides, medical doctor Heller (Robert Taylor) and engineers DJ & Jaxx. On the day of Morris' visit, Suyin supevrises a mission to explore a deeper section of the Mariana Trench, previously concealed by a thermocline of hydrogen sulfide. The submersible is piloted fellow scientists Lori (Jessica McNamee), Toshi (Masi Oka) and his friend nicknamed The Wall (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson). It quickly gets out of hand when an identified creature attacks them. When the submersible's signal is lost, Mac goes to Lori's ex-husband Jonas Taylor whose not worked as a rescue diver for the past five years due to losing two people from a similar incident. Although he claimed to have saw something, Heller claimed he was acting out of a pressure induced psychosis. Jonas quickly accepts the rescue mission when Mac mentions Lori is in danger. Suyin would join him to rescue the others separately, but would briefly be attacked by what was identified as a giant squid. Before it can cause any harm, it is devoured by a prehistoric shark famously known as the Megalodon. Jonas is able to save Lori and the Wall, but Toshi allows himself to be killed by the beast to prevent the others from sharing the same fate. Once regrouped, all debate on whether it is safe to keep expediting. That is until the giant shark attempts to attack Mana One, frightening Suyin's daughter Meiying. Realizing that it came from the temporary break they caused in the thermocline, the group comes to an understanding it must be slain to avoid any more casualties. When the group pursues it, Jonas is able to plant a tracker as suggested by Morris. He would then help Suyin poison it, but their moment of triumph would be interrupted by a bigger meg that reveals itself to be the same one who attacked at the trench. It makes its presence known by swallowing the Wall and devouring the carcass of the meg the group slain. When the whole group briefly goes overboard, Minway would get mortally wounded and Heller would sacrifice himself to save Jaxx. When they're able to regroup again to Mana One, Morris would claim to have informed multiple local governments of the shark's existence to deal with it and orders for the station to be closed until the threat is dealt with. The latter would be the only honest thing from his announcement, as he would go after it personally by sending a mercenary team to defeat it with depth charges. He chooses this path to avoid possible casualty lawsuits. He would end up using the charges on a whale, but would not realize the mistake until the meg gets closer. Sadly for him, he would fall overboard and be eaten by the beast. By morning, the Mana One team realizes what had happened an intend to take action as the meg heads to a crowded beach in Sanya Bay. The team is able to halt the casualties by diverting its attention with a recorded whale call. Although Suyin would join Jonas in killing the meg by shooting torpedoes, but things would change again when she saves the others from falling overboard, as multiple helicopters would crash into their ship. On his own, Jonas would wound the mammal by slicing through its stomach. The meg would react by biting through the submersible, giving the diver a chance to stab it in the eye. As its blood spills in the ocean, the predator would be devoured by nearby modern sharks. The film would end with Jonas and the remaining Mana One crew recovering near a passing wedding boat.THOUGHTS
Shark themed films have been a guilty pleasure sub genre since the classic Jaws franchise and for someone whose been a sucker for monster themed flicks like the Jurassic Saga, I felt like I got the best of both worlds. Is this amazing like Jaws? Of course not. Is it cheesy like Sharknado? Yeah, I can see a minor resemblance. Does it have its own set of issues? A few I’ll get to later, but it doesn’t take away the goal that it was generally entertaining. I personally thought Director Jon Turteltaub gave us what was a wild ass action flick that’s pushing to be serious yet can’t help be a little cheesy. It’s totally made up for because of the presence of the titular sea creature. Thanks to Jurassic World bringing to life an iteration of the Mosasaurus, it was a matter of time to get the megalodon on the big screen and boy did it deliver. At first you want to admit it’s cool for a shark to be over 70ft tall, but then fear kicks in when remembering these things existed before our time. The visual effects for this beast were very solid throughout because it did its best in making this mammal as lifelike as possible. They even made a giant squid look freakishly real in its brief screen time but in general, you know the shark was the true threat. It was even cool for it to copy Jaws when it turned out to be two of them. So when the second one came from the sea to devour the carcass of the other one, I shouted ‘Holy shit’ because I would’ve not expected an entrance like that. If you were over the trauma Jaws can give you about entering the water, this shark brings it back when it attacks the beach. I was even shaking when it stares right at Meiying, slowly swimming towards the Mana One before taking a bite at the glass. Considering how big of a threat it is, you find relief this film has an environment for a group of protagonists to pull off defeating it. It’s kind of a given that the one who does the deed is played by ideal action star Jason Statham. It’s totally earning for him because he shows Jonas Taylor as a guy who has regret towards past loss, but is motivated to continue helping others. It probably wouldn’t be possible for him to pull off stabbing the shark in the eye, but it was pretty dope when he did it. I think seeing him take part in killing the predator was able to reach viewers to always do what your heart tells you is best no matter out of context it could be. Lucky for him, he had a crew of friends who thought similarly. Bingbing Li quickly stood out for portraying Suyin as a capable & smart individual willing to do whatever to save people. She chose to go out of her way to try saving Lori’s team because she didn’t know Jonas well enough to trust him, hence gaslighting him the way Heller would. But as time progressed, she took a liking to him because she understood how selfless he really is. He never had to save her whenever she was in danger especially it looked impossible, but he still did it because he knew it was right. He starting crushing on her because he saw her compassion for others match his. I was even surprised his ex Lori encouraged him to go for it because even she understood it’s okay to find & regain happiness. It’s even a bonus for him when the daughter Meiying saw how nice he was in comparison to her absent father. Speaking of which, it’s pretty hard to hate on the kid since Sophia Cai plays her to be more self aware than other kids would be in this environment, which echoes her mother’s brains. Again if the kid likes you, that is a good sign to date their single parent. Going to the rest of the crew, I dug Cliff Curtis as Mac because he’s one who knows exactly who to trust. He trusted his Jonas the whole time because he knows he can make a plan that can work. It didn’t go their way completely, but the end result is where everyone is satisfied. Ruby Rose was cool as well because she showed off Jaxx as one who shares a handful of confidence we need nowadays. She’s proud of her work in designing Mana One and is helpful in sharing what she knows. On the other hand, I related to DJ the most because Page Kennedy portrayed him as one who is visibly scared due to being unprepared for such dangers. Considering that the danger was a giant shark, I wouldn’t blame him for saying how he feels. He wouldn’t be in the wrong for leaving after the first Meg was killed, but the last thing he needs is to be gaslighted like Jonas. The most neutral character we put up with is Morris. We normally love Rainn Wilson for the gullible-ness he brought to characters like Dwight Schrute from nbc’s The Office, but this ain’t the case for this character. He does seem to care when the shark does damage, but his motivation to deal with it is obviously selfish. You want to root for him as he wanted to deal with the threat, but you still can’t respect him when he’s truly doing it for himself. However, I do believe he is serious when giving his condolences to the fallen and thanking Jonas for his heroic efforts because the last thing he wanted is for that to happen. Whether or not governments would believe him, he still should’ve told them what was going on to evacuate the beaches. Had he done that, we would’ve better respected his efforts in slaying the beast. In all honesty, I think it’s hilarious when he goes overboard because you can approach it either way: His paid mercenaries either didn’t hear his call for help or they’re ignoring him to save themselves. Respect is always gonna go to the remaining crew for killing the meg, but with the final shot focusing on the ocean, implying more escaped the trench, would only tell us it was only the beginning of the terror. Having said all the things that make this entertaining, there were still an array of moments that don’t due to not making sense in general. For example, the opening was pretty intense for not showing the Meg, but I’m sure many can agree when I say Heller was wrong to doubt Jonas when the sub got destroyed once they left. Shell shock or not, he should know that can’t be a coincidence. And was it really smart for Mac and Minway to wait on telling Jonas that Lori is in danger? You’re in a time crunch and if you know he still cares about her, lead with that shit. Also, how does Jaxx know Lori’s team is alive just by looking at the ship? I honestly don’t think we needed that sentence if Heller knew they were still alive from checking their vitals. I do think the Meg slowly coming up towards the Mana One was the best scene for its intensity, but how come no one at the station detected it before it bit the glass? I know the core cast was caught up in a debate, but it’s not like they’re the only people who work there. It was somewhat of a smart idea for Suyin to poison the Meg through the cage, but how come she and the crew didn’t anticipate it trying to swallow the cage? If they know how big it is, they should’ve at least thought of a compromise. And Jaxx was too damn lucky to thank Morris for saving her when she was still in the water. On top of that, I found Heller’s sacrifice pointless because Jaxx doesn’t even paddle back to the crew until after he dies. They honestly both could’ve been saved. The Meg could’ve tried again at chomping her down and it’s crazy that it didn’t. I wouldn’t believe Mac if I was an authoritative figure being told there’s a prehistoric shark in modern oceans, but I would’ve been sold off of being told of a large shark. And let’s be honest, it was a terrible idea for Meiying to be part of the final stand against the shark because she could’ve died too and luck struck again when she survives. It’s even ridiculous for everyone at the beach to stay near the water once the Meg left. Even they are lucky the ones from the sequel didn’t show up yet. Ignore this, then you’re still gonna have a good time by the end of it. To wrap up, The Meg is a guilty pleasure action flick I recommend to all the shark enthusiasts out there for its unordinary concept being as entertaining as expected.
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