I had built up a lot of personal hype going into this film, not because I thought the film was going to be a fantastically made, wonderfully acted, brilliantly written masterpiece, but because it looked like a tongue in cheek crappy big monster film which I have a soft spot for. What can I say, I just love seeing big monsters eat things. It is undoubtedly fun. So, was the hype warranted? Is this the spectacular mess that I dreamed it would be? Kind of. It isn't very good, and there are moments of just stupidity which are great, but the problem is that there isn't nearly enough of these moments. I understand the need to attempt to build some sort of emotional bond between the audience and the characters so that we're more affected by the adversity that they face, but the film is about a huge, prehistoric shark, I think we can spend a little less time with the characters and more time with, you know, the fucking massive shark? Anyway, I digress. The film opens with Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) on a rescue mission to a submarine which has been attacked by a huge mystery creature (I wonder what it could possibly have been in this film called The Meg). He is unable to save everyone onboard and goes into seclusion due to the guilt. He is brought back into the fray when a science team, including his ex-wife, are attacked by the same creature and are trapped at the bottom of the ocean. He comes to save them and in doing so discovers the creature is a Megalodon (what were the fucking odds of that?!). They accidentally release the Megalodon and the rest of the film follows them attempting to track it down and kill it before it can wreak havoc.
As you can probably imagine the acting in this film is nothing to write home about. No one is particularly bad in the film but there isn't one person who steals the show with an amazing or entertaining performance. Everyone does their job to the required level and pretty much no more. There are only really two performances that I can really focus in on, and that is Jason Statham (because he is Jason Statham) and Shuya Sophia Cai, who plays Meiying in the film. Jason Statham is doing what he does in all his film roles pretty much and that is playing the very macho hero who also has slight bit of British charm but is mainly just a hard arse who fears nothing and no one. He does this part well and he is believable in the role, but it is nothing we have not seen before. I wanted to give a shout out to Shuya Sophia Cai as she is a child actor who is, firstly, not terrible, and secondly, she puts in a very good performance. Now it isn't a career making performance or anything so substantial that many people are going to be coming away thinking she was incredible, but she did a very good job in a role that was written very well. I usually have no time for needless child characters and at its core this character is that. Take her out of the film and nothing is lost. But, because the character is written and performed well I'm much more receptive of it and I think praise should be put on to Shuya for winning over a cold-hearted bastard like me over, so well done.
Now, let’s talk about the title character, the Meg. The film takes perhaps a little too much time getting to the Meg, but when they do they don't shy away from it. It goes down the route of mystery initially, but once the shark is introduced they don't shy away from it. All the characters know what it is, and they keep making sure to put themselves in situations where they will be in contact with it. All the action scenes are fun but there is very little tension to any of them, mainly because they all involve Jason Statham and you know perfectly well that he isn't going anywhere, especially early in the film. The deaths are nothing spectacular but there are a couple of fun ones. The main fun comes with the beach scene towards the end of the film, but even this doesn't go far enough in my opinion and stops just before it can get really good. What I do appreciate is that the Meg acts like an animal rather than a horror villain (for the most part) and so the ways the characters come up with for stopping it are believable. As for how the shark looks, its looks pretty good. The CGI in the film is pretty good throughout with only a couple of not so great looking moments, but on the whole the shark looks good and is animated well. It may not be in the film enough, but when it is it looks good and it always fun.
The Meg was disappointing for me. It was less tongue in cheek then I had been hoping for, and for what is effectively a B-movie on a big budget the B-movie kills and thrills are sorely missing. However, it is not a terrible film. It isn't very good, but everyone involved does a decent job and in doing so produce a decent film. It has its moments of stupid fun, mainly towards the end of the film where there are two so stupid they're brilliant moments (honest to God laugh out loud moments I promise you), but it is mainly a paint by numbers monster film with not too much to say for it. However, I couldn't finish this review without mentioning the brilliant Jaws reference in the film. I was expecting one, but I was not expecting it to be this subtle, as it is literally just a dog in the film having the same name as a dog that gets eaten in Jaws, Pippin. Barely anyone is going to get that reference but being a huge fan of Jaws I massively appreciated it. Might have been the best bit of the film for me, I can't lie.