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MEG (2018)

Meg poster

CAST
JASON STATHAM
SHUYA SOPHIA CAI
WINSTON CHAO
CLIFF CURTIS
PAGE KENNEDY
BINGBING LI
JESSICA McNAMEE
MASI OKA
OLAFUR DARRI OLAFSSON
RUBY ROSE
ROBERT TAYLOR
RAINN WILSON

BASED ON THE NOVEL “MEG: A NOVEL OF DEEP TERROR” BY
STEVE ALTEN

SCREENPLAY BY
DEAN GEORGARIS
ERICH HOEBER
JON HOEBER

PRODUCED BY
BELLE AVERY
LORENZO DI BONAVENTURA
COLIN WILSON

DIRECTED BY
JON TURTELTAUB

GENRE
ACTION
SCI-FI
THRILLER

RATED
AUS:M
UK:12A
USA:PG-13

RUNNING TIME
113 MIN

 

 

Meg image

A toothless and meandering excuse of a shark movie, The Meg is also the latest example of an American / Chinese co-production lost in translation and without a clue.

For over 20 years movie studios have attempted to adapt Steve Alten’s popular novel “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror” to the big screen. In that time, we have had giant-sized spectacles in the form of Godzilla, King-Kong (twice), Pacific Rim, a Transformers series, and countless superhero spectaculars appearing at cinemas everywhere. Yet this tale of a giant, prehistoric shark just could not be brought to life, which is odd considering the horrific tale of a giant shark by the name of Jaws gave birth to the summer blockbuster over 40 years ago!

Finally, in 2018, The Meg is released for shark movie connoisseurs everywhere. The result, however, is that this would have been better if stuck in the development hell of whence it came. This Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) directed movie is as entertaining as watching a goldfish lapping circles in a fishbowl. Void of any semblance of terror and filled with actors who bring a net personality value of “zero” to the proceedings, The Meg once again proves that no matter how winning a formula and sound a game plan (in this case Alten’s thrilling page turner of a novel), movie studios will find a way to mess it up with mind-numbing, tumbling hilarity. One would laugh if they didn’t cry.

The first mis-step is the casting of Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor, a rescue diver traumatised by a mission gone wrong when he and his crew are attacked by an unknown creature of some size and power. Five years later, a near alcoholic Jonas (which you would never assume considering Statham’s chiselled abs and cool as a cucumber demeanour), is called upon to rescue another unfortunate group trapped in the deep depths of the ocean. This time the unknown creature is identified as the long thought extinct Megalodon, a prehistoric 70-foot shark who abandons the ocean’s depths for life amongst yummy sea dwelling creatures, especially humans.

The shark itself is an impressively made CGI creation, yet under the direction of Turtletaub and company, it is as impotent a giant monster seen in a large budget spectacle in some time. With the constraints of a PG-13 rating and little in the way of imagination, The Meg doesn’t terrify as it should. An example of all bark and no bite, the good old Jaws 2 tagline of “just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water” just doesn’t apply here.

The creature’s human co-stars do not fare much better. Statham is curiously dull here, in a role that demands much more introspection than the action star can muster. Even worse is Chinese superstar Bingbing Li, who as headstrong marine biologist Suyin Zhang comes off as personality void and annoyingly cynical. Rain Wilson fails as the comic relief, Ruby Rose is all smouldering look and no pulse, and Cliff Curtis seems to have the look of an actor constantly thinking to himself “I am better than this”. And yes, he most certainly is.

Co-produced by Warner Bros. and Chinese movie studio Gravity Pictures, The Meg joins The Great Wall as a film that tries to cater to both western and eastern movie cultures, yet ultimately lets down anyone from anywhere who will choose to watch. Ho-hum in tis action scenes, void of tension, and miscast from top to bottom, The Meg is as dead-in-the-water a shark movie as there has ever been.

 

*1/2

 

 

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