Celebrity Nooz: The Meg

The Meg (2018)

Movie Title: The Meg

Year Released: 2018

Rated: PG-13

Runtime: 1h 53min

Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Writer: Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber (based on the novel "Meg" by Steve Alten)

Starring: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Shuya Sophia Cai, Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jessica McNamee, Masi Oka

Review: A group of scientists find more than they bargained for when exploring the Pacific's deepest trench. Entering this protected deep sea world allows for a prehistoric predator - the Megalodon - to escape. Now, a rescue diver (Jason Statham), an oceangrapher (Bingbing Li), and a team of researchers, must stop this sinister seas monster before it eats up all life in the ocean and takes its place on top of the food chain.

The Meg is a ridiculous movie premise that seems destined to be SyFy Channel shlock, but has a big budget and it's actually quite surprising and fun. The special effects are quite impressive which helps to make the Megalodon a rather intimidating villain. And the heroic Jason Statham has never been more Jason Statham-ie. He's brooding, tough, fearless, and is determined to stop this monstrous shark - sink or swim. And the cast is fairly memorable with Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Ruby Rose, and Masi Oka battling the beast both in and under the water.

My only real gripes with the movie are the level of humor, the gore, and the scares. We really don't get any of those things here. For a premise this ridiculous The Meg really plays it straight. There's hardly any levity to juxtapose the Meg's mayhem. And there is no gore to speak of, either. And most of the scares are unearned "jump scares" that you can see coming a mile away. Missing these three key ingredients kind of leaves you with a bad fish smell after it's over, which is a real shame.

Statham does everything he can to make the action scenes exciting and entertaining, but the movie as a whole is really leaves you wanting more. It was a fun watch and it did hold my interest for the full run-time, but it could have gone a little more Deep Blue Sea for my money.

Stars (out of 4):

Fun Fact: The young boy on Sanya Beach who begs his mother to be allowed to go swimming is another homage to Jaws (1975). His mother is wearing a similar swimsuit to the one Alex Kintner's (the second victim) mother wore in the original film.

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