The Meg Review – Spoiler Free
The Meg is a film which comes directed by Jon Turteltaub who some may know as the director of Last Vegas (2013) or National Treasure (2004). The film stars Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Masi Oka and Ruby Rose. The Meg is a sci-fi, action and horror film about a giant prehistoric shark known as “The Meg” which lurks deep in the ocean.
If you’re going out this weekend and plan on seeing The Meg but aren’t too sure about it, there’s a few things you might want to know.
First off, while it does at times look to be a horror film, to me it doesn’t really stand up as much of one as the tone of the movie is not ramped up enough to a point where you sit scared in your chair from the tension, this is not Jaws. What The Meg is more of, is a science fiction action film. The characters are presented in a light-hearted way and there are jokes all throughout, with some characters themselves being the actual jokes at certain times. This is not bad as it makes for an entertaining action film weekend, but don’t go in expecting a horror film. This movie might be scary to kids, but not adults.
One of the odd things about The Meg is that if you read through the IMDB trivia for the film you can see that originally Eli Roth was meant to direct this and the film was meant to be R rated. But somehow along the way this didn’t come about and we ended up with the toned down version we now have from Jon Turteltaub. Why this is interesting is because when you tone down the film to a more general rating, the film ends up competing with another prehistoric film in the same genre which we just experienced at the cinema, Jurassic World. Between these two, Jurassic World is the better of the two, it has a better story, better characters, more action and more monsters.
The Meg does have a giant shark and yes I went in there just wanting to see people get torn up and eaten, just as much as I did when I went into Jurassic World earlier this year. I got a little of that but not as much as I would have liked. Having kept that R rating on the film possibly would have meant we ended up with maybe something a little different to what we got at the cinema just so recently instead of something that was so similar.
One of the big pluses that The Meg has is that it does have a good cast of actors. Jason Statham is the main draw to see this film and he does great in the role. There’s eye candy moments all throughout for those who want that and quite a bit of CGI action with the shark. It’s a bit of a different kind of action film to what we usually see Jason Statham in, but it does work. The film does also have Bingbing Li who is a little less known than Statham, but she was a joy to watch and I’m hoping we see more of her in the future. Other actors like Rain Wilson, Ruby Rose, Cliff Curtis and Masi Oka all put in some entertaining moments.
If you’re going in to see The Meg for its action moments, the film won’t really let you down. There’s everything you could want from a movie about a giant shark. But as mentioned I do feel it could have been better if it was more violent because it would allow for even more possibilities. Also because the film is toned down, much of the horror elements come across as really silly. The CGI is however well done and the shark does look rather great at times.
Overall The Meg is an okay action film to go and see at the cinema this weekend. But don’t expect too much from this. The actors are all entertaining and we get a solid cast which includes Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Masi Oka and Ruby Rose. This is probably the only time in your life you’ll get to see Jason Statham on the big screen fighting a giant prehistoric shark underwater and it certainly has its moments. While I do whinge about wanting more violence in The Meg, what we have here in the end is okay, it’s still entertaining and still delivers enough action.
