The Meg

MEG runs mostly on two things: the predictable problem with accessibility, which makes the potentially adrenaline-pumping and thrilling premise suffer from constant downplaying and visual softness; and the attempts to humanize the main characters, which mostly look terribly ridiculous – we have the most classic cast: from a doctor to a whiny black man to a pretty scientist, and of course we have Jason Statham, who is initially mired in booze and remorse, but for most of the film he's an incredibly cool, fearless superhero, so that the viewer gradually comes to see the shark not as a terrible threat, but as someone looking forward to Jason’s next heroic stunt. But I’m cool with it. MEG lost any A-grade ambitions with the announcement of the creative team, and the production poured the 150 million into deliberately dumbed-down and great-looking entertainment where everybody es having plenty of fun (Statham pulls it off outrageously, Turteltaub occasionally delights with inventive action or suspenseful point-of-view shots), and if it weren't for the aforementioned attempt at personal conflicts and the associated boring dialogue, the film would have flown by. Making a family film with a bloodthirsty shark is no joke, and the creators quite managed it. Even the dog survives in the end. 60% (08/15/2018)

I’m actually not all that surprise by Jason Statham being in this film. MEG is quite a quality b-rated movie, which looks stupid only in those moments when Jason doesn’t have a beer in his hand. Because when he does, he looks like the coolest guy under the sun, so I think he should’ve had one even while he was holding a fishing rod with the megalodon in his other hand. (11/01/2019)

Entertaining idiocy about a bloodthirsty prehistoric shark, in which Statham sings the same tune as Dory in Finding Nemo. The tricks are solid and the B-movie screenplay is supported by essential crutches such as a whining black guy, a bothersome billionaire and the requisite love story. But the movie also has a British joker up its sleeve who used to be a professional swimmer and saves everything, including the movie. I enjoyed it. (10/04/2019)

A forgettable, average B-movie. It needed a director like Stephen Sommers or Joe Johnston, who would make such deliberately silly subject matter into a better spectacle. John Turtletaub is not very good.____P.S. The Czech subtitles by Kateřina Hámova are once again horrendous. No, “squid" really isn't “octopus," and there were plenty of other mistakes as well. (08/22/2018)

I went to the cinema to see The Meg out of curiosity, because I wanted to see how Jason Statham would handle a giant shark in such a high-budget film, expecting no miracles. In the end, it was pretty good, mostly because the shark looked realistic and the film offered a pretty compelling look at the mysterious life in the depths of the ocean. I would, however, fault the somewhat longer running time for a film of this nature and the insertion of excess relationship and family filler that could have easily been dumped into the ocean or replaced with more action (and even blood). As something to watch once in the cinema, however, The Meg is ideal. (09/16/2018)