Jaws on steroids, The Meg was a fun adventure movie with plenty of action and some interesting surprises.
When Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) was forced to leave men behind when his underwater rescue mission goes sideways, his career, marriage and sanity are damaged because of his claims that an extra-large shark attacked the Navy’s nuclear submarine. When a new underwater research team funded by an American billionaire (Rainn Wilson) becomes stranded at the bottom of the ocean floor, Jonas is asked to save the team which includes his ex-wife (Jessica McNamee).
When Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) was forced to leave men behind when his underwater rescue mission goes sideways, his career, marriage and sanity are damaged because of his claims that an extra-large shark attacked the Navy’s nuclear submarine. When a new underwater research team funded by an American billionaire (Rainn Wilson) becomes stranded at the bottom of the ocean floor, Jonas is asked to save the team which includes his ex-wife (Jessica McNamee).
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The research team inadvertently lets the 75-foot prehistoric shark out of the ocean floor where it was trapped by a super freezing layer of gas which mimicked the bottom and had kept the Megalodon from being discovered. There are certainly flaws in the science of this movie since it’s not really possible that the large shark could survive in such a small area without the larger predators he needs for survival.
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A Chinese and American production, it was interesting to see how the billionaire was portrayed as an over the top, goofy person more interested in money and lawsuits than people. Was this how the Chinese filmmakers see Americans? Or one in particular? One moment which was over the top silly and parents of teenage boys will “get” was when the two geeky scientists snickered over the word “inserted” each time it was used. It reminded me of the one year my boys kept saying “Poop” at Thanksgiving dinner.
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Jason Statham played his typical sexy and thrilling super military guy. The character was much like many of the other characters he’d played, sexy but also a total bossy, super military man who could handle everything thrown at him including the sass of a 8-year-old (Sophia Cai) and her sexy mother (Bingbing Li). The budding romance between Jonas and the daughter of the chief scientist shows up with her being sarcastic to him and him saving her life more than once.
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A great supporting cast with recently named as Catwoman actress-Ruby Rose and Masi Oka from Hawaii 5-O, keeps the storyline flowing. But Meiling (Sophia Cai)- the young daughter steals the movie with her honest insights into life because in her words, no one realizes she listens to all they say in front of her. Her screen time with Statham is sweet and I believe his character fell in love with the little girl before noticing her mother!
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With many nods to Jaws and even a throwaway line about Shark Week, the Meg is sure to delight fans of big action movies, much like the Rock’s San Andreas or Rampage. With the fear factor and a quite a few deaths (after all, this is a shark movie), The Meg is not for younger audiences, although for me the moment I almost cried at involved the death of a whale and not a human. Just don’t expect a great plot- go for the action.
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