The Meg

The Meg starring Jason Statham in the lead role is just another sea thriller that ambitiously tries to be another “Jaws” but due to lack of novelty falls flat by offering a few predictable scares that look good only visually. With a horribly clichéd plot getting executed without any element of surprise, this one is not a boring movie, but the chances of you remembering anything from the movie is highly unlikely.

Mana One is an underwater research facility in China where they are making a big step by discovering a spot that is deeper than the Mariana trench. But that attempt results in the discovery of a species of shark that people thought no longer existed; The Megalodon. Deep sea rescue operations expert Jonas Taylor was brought on board to save the people who got stuck in the attack by the Meg and the film shows us how the team at Mana One along with Taylor manages to put an end to the rampage by the Meg.

The template of all these movies is really the same. We will have either Statham or Dwayne Johnson who failed in their “expert” job once and now living a life of regret suddenly getting a call saying “you are the one” who can do it. And they will eventually end up doing all those stuff again to get out of the guilt or regret that was hunting them. The moment we finish seeing that flashback sequence on the screen, it becomes crystal clear that the movie is going to be the way I just wrote and sadly it fails to prove you wrong. The only thing that is saving the movie here is the visual effects quality that manages to give you chills about the Meg. But the shock those visuals could provide is just momentary as we are familiar with movies that have sharks or whales as the monster. The Meg almost becomes a predictable horror movie with everything you predict coming true in the next few seconds.

Jon Turteltaub’s treatment doesn’t really manage to create a genuine intimidation towards the Meg. When you are addressing an audience who has seen Jaws or even two versions of Godzilla, there has to be some uniqueness to the way they build the tension and chaos. The stereotypical characterizations and actions of characters just feel like a repetition of the characters we have seen in movies that managed to have a place in the heart of the audiences. Yes, I blurred my eyes at times to avoid seeing the “horribleness”, but unlike an “It” or “Annabelle”, my timing this time was spot on. The visual effects of this movie have quality. Neither the cinematography nor the cuts are building any sort of intrigue.

Jason Statham is just like a marketing face of the movie. If he had declined the offer, they would have gone for Dwayne Johnson. A solid body and a repertoire of movies with similar heroics is perhaps the only criterion here to choose the hero and I must say it’s so refreshing to see some new expressions in his face (The interactions with the kid in this movie). Li Bingbing is the female lead here. And the other members of the cast don’t make much of an impression except for Page Kennedy as DJ who delivers lines like raping when the character becomes tensed.

The Meg is almost a B movie. If you are someone who doesn’t feel exhausted seeing movies like, say a San Andreas or a Sky scrapper (recent movies), this one might end up as that passable forgettable entertainer. An angry Statham at one point says “I am gonna make this thing bleed”. So you know what you are in for!

Rating: 2/5