The Meg opens on a deep water rescue where Jonas (Jason Statham) and his crew are trying to save a group of men trapped in a submarine miles below the surface. During the rescue, something large attacks the submarine, caving it in on the sides. Jonas is able to save 11 people before having to detach the rescue vehicle, leaving his two best friends behind to die.
Years later, a billionaire named Morris (Rainn Wilson) is visiting an underwater research lab he has been funding. Zhang (Winston Chao) and his daughter, Suyin (BingBing Li) are scientists leading a research team with a theory that the bottom of the Mariana Trench is not actually the bottom, but a thick layer of freezing gas. They send down a team of three divers, The Wall (Olafur Darri Olafsson), Toshi (Masi Oka) and Lori (Jessica McNamee) to test the theory. Of course, they were correct and they easily pass through the layer of gas to find a whole ecosystem of creatures and plants previously undiscovered. Their celebration is cut short when their ship is attacked by something large, and they are stranded at the bottom of the ocean, deeper than anyone has ever been.
Of course, there is only one man alive that has ever attempted a rescue at depths close to where the team is stranded and survived. So, Morris heads to Thailand to recruit Jonas to bring back the team, who are not only running out of oxygen, but are in danger of being killed by whatever it was that attacked them.
During the rescue mission, Jonas and Suyin finally see what attacked both the research team and the submarine all those years ago — a Megalodon, a prehistoric shark that spans 75-90 feet long. After a successful rescue, they discover the Megalodon has somehow escaped through the gas and is now swimming free in the ocean. Now, they must track and kill the creature before it wreaks havoc.
The Meg is basically a Jason Statham movie with a giant shark. If you are familiar with his films, you understand exactly what I mean. It is a mindless action film, with lots of plot holes, where Statham does extraordinarily stupid things that people interpret as heroic and he really only survives by sheer luck. And like any Statham movie, there is a beautiful love interest and Statham without a shirt.
Let’s be honest from the get-go, the movie is bad. It’s predictable, it steals aspects from the greatest sea creature films that already exist (Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, Piranha), and is full of some of the biggest plot holes I’ve ever seen. For example, how did the Megalodon attack the submarine at the beginning if it was trapped below the layer of gas and the research team was the first to go that deep? And how is Jonas still so cut when he has been a lazy alcoholic for years?
That all being said, it was possibly the most fun I have had at the movie theater with a creature film. Yes, the film is bad, but the experience was so good. The combination of jump scares that you know are coming, but you jump anyway, the awful jokes that you cannot help but laugh at, and the seemingly never-ending action keep you entertained throughout the almost two hours you’re there. You’re not going to see The Meg for Oscar-worthy plotlines and acting, you’re going to see Jason Statham fight a giant shark and you get exactly what you ask for. Honestly, I would go to see it again and I actually might.
Rating: 3/10 Stars (But 10/10 for fun)
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