The Meg is the latest in a long line of summer films dedicated to feeding on the fear and morbid fascination humans have with the idea of being eaten by a monster. This is a spoiler-free review, so I won’t tell you whether Pippin the dog or Hamster Ball Guy from the trailer survive to the final credits. Some of the supporting cast gets eaten, some doesn’t, and not even the Meg can eat the entire buffet of cliched potential victims conveniently packed into one crowded beach. Trying to guess which minor characters and extras would make it out alive was the only source of minor suspense in an otherwise by-the-numbers summer popcorn flick.
Pippin the Dog Tries to Escape from The Meg. IMDb.com
The Meg got off to a reasonably plausible start with a deep-sea exploration team running into trouble and needing rescue. Some of the decisions made in the first act were arguably questionable, but justifiable for the most part. Beginning midway through the film, though, judgement across the board steadily deteriorated, and “that seems like a bad idea” became a near constant thought. This was coupled with unlikely accidents of escalating ridiculousness and several implausible saves at the last second. It became almost a parody of the genre. It was billed as an action/horror/science fiction movie, though, so the writers (Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber) and director (Jon Turteltaub) seem to have intended to play it straight.
Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. The Meg. IMDb.com
The entire cast turned in uninspired performances. Jason Statham was Jason Statham. Shuya Sophia Cai as the 8-year-old daughter of the chief scientist was the only one who was really convincing.
Jason Statham and Shuya Sophia Cai in The Meg. IMDb.com
To give credit where it’s due, the film looked great. The underwater scenes were very well done, and several of the sequences were truly outstanding visually. There was plenty of CGI, of course, and some of it looked out of place, but most of it was very well executed.
Dodgy science is so commonplace in movies like this that it’s almost not worth mentioning, but The Meg did take quite a few liberties. A lot of disparate marine species seemed to randomly hang out together. A swarm of sharks appeared out of nowhere like a school of giant marine piranha at an opportune bloody moment. And it’s hard to imagine how even a 75-foot prehistoric shark could still be hungry after eating as much as this thing did over a period of only 2-3 days, including several creatures as large as itself.
Despite its awfulness, though, it falls into the “so bad its good” category and was quite fun to watch. While it could objectively be compared to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in terms of lazy writing, questionable science, and implausible events, it somehow managed to be entertaining instead of painful. Hearing the Toni Basil hit “Mickey” sung in Thai was bizarrely compelling.
This is another of those films that needs two separate ratings. It was a really terrible movie, but it was also mindlessly fun for a couple of hours. The Meg is definitely a candidate for rental movie night with a generous supply of your favorite refreshing beverage and some rowdy friends.
Overall rating 3.5/10
Personal enjoyment rating 7/10