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After escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor must confront his fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible.
When a film pits Jason Statham against a huge, prehistoric shark, you know exactly who’s going to win. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun along the way. Ever since Steven Spielberg scared the swimming trunks off swimmers in the summer of 1975 with his first big blockbuster, “Jaws,” filmgoers, and filmmakers, have been flooding movie theaters ever since with carbon copies. While none of them ever lived up to the tension and fear Spielberg infused into his picture, most were cheesy good fun, including “Jaws 2,” “Orca,” “Barracuda,” “Alligator,” and my personal favorite (of which I own on Blu-ray), “Killerfish,” starring Lee Majors.
“The Meg” is no different but it beats all the aforementioned titles because it has a big budget, name actors, and top-notch special effects. You can see the ending of the movie as soon as it begins but as they say, getting there is half the fun. As the film begins, Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham), a rescue diver, is deep underwater, attempting to rescue a group of scientists from a deepsea submarine mission. The vessel is being battered and pulverized by an enormous unseen force and as Jonas’ men set their sights on the last remaining scientists, after the craft is seriously damaged and he is separated from them, he has to make a life-or-death decision, to go back for them or detach and head for the surface. He chooses the latter and just in time, as the submarine explodes from the pressure. After telling the authorities what happened and that the sub was attacked by something gargantuan, he is branded a loony and disappears to Thailand for five years until he is contacted by Mac (Cliff Curtis), an old friend who runs operations at “Mana One,” an underwater research facility several hundred miles of the Chinese coast.
Once there, Mac informs him that his ex-wife, Lori (Jessica McNamee), and two colleagues, were exploring the depths of the Mariana Trench when they encountered something of tremendous size. Just before they lost contact, Lori was heard saying that Jonas was right. In no time, Jonas suits up and makes his way down to the bottom of the trench and saves Lori and one of her colleagues but when their vessel is attacked, just like the submarine Jonas was on in the beginning, one of them remains behind and gives his life so that they can escape. Once they make their way back up to the surface, they encounter the Megalodon firsthand and when they realize that it is making its way towards China, they set out to stop it, once and for all.
With a movie like “The Meg,” you don’t go to see it for character development and story exposition, you go to see the big-ass shark that would gobble up “Jaws” in a heartbeat. Jason Statham is an action star, plain and simple, so while he has few moments of emotional depth, he comes to life when having to battle the colossal fish, save his ex-wife, place a tracker on the shark, and pretty much everything else that doesn’t require tears or sensitivity. Director Jon Turteltaub, the man responsible for “Phenomenon,” “National Treasure,” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” proves that he can make a fun popcorn movie and while taking specific elements of the story seriously, he doesn’t take the whole film with a straight face.
Available on 4K UHD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD November 13th
