The Meg

16 reviews, and half are all a fake high-rated single review of this film - makes me shake my head why the producers think their viewers are dumb and wont see thru the fakes. All it takes is one click to see the only single review from the poster. Don't get me started on the moronic review from halil-92019: "Playing computer games makes kids smarter?"

This film had it's moments, but it was nothing spectacular. The best parts were the cinematography, visuals and directing. The story itself has been done so many times, making the shark prehistoric doesn't add anything to the imagination. The writers needed to up this a few levels and not rely on Statham (who was great as always) to bring in the moviegoers into the theater. The 103 min length felt a little long, but the pacing good enough to keep you interested, although it was missing that constant extra thrill and suspense I expected. Instead, I cringed at the cheesy 1 liners and poor attempt at humor - most executed at the wrong time.

It's an honest deserving score of only 6/10 from me.

Granted, The Meg is dumb. Jason Statham takes on a giant shark from below what scientists thought was the bottom of the Marianas Trench. You know how it's going to end because Jason Statham doesn't ever lose. Even when faced with one or more enormous sharks

Great special effects cover for some sketchy acting - not that anyone watches these sorts of movies for acting - and some of the expected action movie tropes (like my personal favourite: someone getting killed gloating about their victory after they think the threat is over) in what is a fun film if you like giant creature movies and Jason Statham. One of those movies to not over-think.

Definitely not a masterpiece, but definitely enjoyable.

Do I wish it were better? Of course.

Could it be worse? Definitely.

Am I annoyed Ruby Rose is in it? Always.

Considering that all shark movies are disappointing cheap thrills compared to the pure rush of Jaws, fans have to take what we can get. This is definitely more in the vein of silly big budget fun like Deep Blue Sea, but with a lighter comedic touch, and of course a bigger shark.

Since I was a kid I've wanted to see a tiny submersible being chased by a megalodon, and this movie has that, so I'm happy.

But wow, did the studio ever screw this one up! I've been waiting YEARS for the movie, I'm one of the first to get the newest book in the series and this had SO MUCH POTENTIAL! Between what I think was intended to be a family friendly edited version of the film to the absolute horrible marketing campaign, what were they thinking!?! Why would you preemptively turn away half your potential audience by taking a comical route with the trailers? It's meant to be a THRILLER not Sharknado. Why would you not give us terrifying scenes of being eaten/swallowed/pulled under, it's a SHARK movie, genre equals HORROR. I was so wanting to love this movie and hopeful it would turn into a franchise but with the direction the studio chose to go with it, they sank Meg before she even had a chance breach the waters. SO VERY DISAPPOINTED.

My main reasons for seeing 'The Meg' were that there are classic shark films out there (there is an obvious example that won't be named by means of fairness in the review but has been mentioned elsewhere) and that it was part of my many quests to see as many 2018 films as possible. It did look from the cover that it would be some kind of guilty pleasure fun, which was my ideal kind of film for the day.

Apparently 'The Meg' had a lot of studio interference, meaning that what was initially intended (and from the sounds of it what was initially intended would have made it a much better film) was not seen in the film, and it shows in the final product. Wanted some guilty pleasure film, a kind of turn-the-brain-off-at-the-door sort of film. Instead, 'The Meg' turned out to be poorly written and mostly devoid of tension and fun, one where one is rooting for the shark than any of the human characters. Is it better than any of the shark-creature films from SyFy and The Asylum? Oh yes, so much better, now those are mostly abominations. That doesn't stop 'The Meg' from being potential unfulfilled.

There are positives. 'The Meg' does start off reasonably well with a sense of unsettlement and the climactic scene is pretty entertaining. The best character, kid you not, is the shark which had personality and one that was not too scary or goofy.

It's pretty decent visually, nicely shot in particular, the music fits well and Jason Statham brings charisma to his role and is believable in that aspect.

On the other hand, the rest of the acting is a mess. Worst of all is a dreadful Bingbing Li, with a character that bores and annoys and approaching the character in a way that's completely wrong and out of kilter with everything else. None of the characters are well written, too bland to be interesting and too annoying with dumb decision making to be likeable. A few of them are completely unnecessary. Development is zero.

Special effects are uneven, some times they are pretty good and at other times they look so artificial and like they were made in haste. The action scenes with the shark are too few and they are generally devoid of tension, scares and suspense, ruined by unintentional humour, tameness, stupid goofiness and lack of sense, even when taking it for what it is meant to be. The story is as shallow and predictable as can be, with the pace dulling significantly outside of the shark action and indicative of padding out the already overlong by 15-20 minute running time.

Faring worst is the script, which is even more atrocious than Bingbing Li's acting, bad enough to warrant a paragraph of its own. Far too much talk, very clumsy attempts at humour (unintentional and the cringe-worthy intentional), a good deal of waffle some of which adds nothing, a lot of ridiculousness and implausibility, excessive sentimentality, muddled and clunky scientific exposition and some of it perplexes in terms of clarity too.

In summary, has good things but ruined primarily by the script. 4/10 Bethany Cox