The Meg is one of the best shark movies ever made

One of the best shark movie ever made, The Meg brilliantly merges an action star, a big budget, and B-movie absurdity.

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: The Meg belongs in the discussion for top shark movie ever. It’s better than all of the Jaws movies except the original. It trumps several other bad shark movies like 47 Meters Down that pretend to be realistic. Finally, The Meg is better than every single one of the Sharknado films, even the ones where Tara Reid still looked like a human version of Tara Reid.

So, if you’re planning on going to the movies for thrills and entertainment, and you happen to be a fan of Jason Statham, shark week, or both, then The Meg is a great choice.

The plot

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An obscenely expensive undersea observation complex houses a team of misfits and scientists, all funded by a billionaire named Morris (Rainn Wilson). Their funding is provided to explore past a cloudy thermocline most believe to be the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Their deep-sea submersibles penetrate into uncharted territories, where The Meg still exists. The 75-foot shark is not happy about the intrusion.

The result is a crippled sub, with a stranded three person crew. One of the crew members is Lori (Jessica McNamee), who looks like a discount Rebecca Romijn, who just happens to be the ex-wife of deep-sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham). Facility leadership – Chinese oceanographer Zhang (Winston Chao), his brilliant and beautiful daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), and Mac (Cliff Curtis) – recruits Jonas to save the crew, the sub, and stop the shark.

The good

Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s get to the goods. Long story short, this is the shark version of Moby Dick. If you liked Moby Dick, you should like The Meg.

There is an absolute tidal wave of action. Each time you pop your head above water for a breather, action comes back to take your breath away. The ravenous, vindictive shark circles, chomps, and rams, like a giant bumper car with razor-sharp teeth. Delivering just what the audience should expect, The Meg is somewhere between intense, blockbuster thriller and self-aware B-movie. In terms of undiluted entertainment value, The Meg stands above all other 2018 peers. It’s either awesome, engrossing, or campy the entire 1 hour 53 minute run-time.

The bad

If there were any critiques of The Meg, they can’t be fully deep or serious. Anyone willingly watching The Meg has to be honest about their expectations. Don’t expect an Oscar from this film unless the new “Popular Film” category becomes reality. Conversely, the unfortunate reluctance to go full-Sharknado leaves the film slightly high-centered. Which is just fine by me.

For the hyper-critical, however, it’s neither ridiculous nor exciting enough for audiences to fully embrace either side. It’s a wild, exciting ride, but as the classically relatable proverb goes, “fish or cut bait.”

The sharkly

There is NO ugly in this beauty. It’s scarier than any dinosaur in the Jurassic Park franchise. The special effects are horrifying. The shark is monstrous, deadly, fast, and has multiple courses of chubby, human flesh through the film. Unfortunately, however, the shark needs more screen time. If there were more scenes with The Meg, and roughly 20 less scenes with the little girl who needs several acting lessons, then perhaps the prehistoric shark premise might actually be in Oscar discussion for FX.

Additionally, the cast is quite enjoyable. Statham plays, well, underwater Handsome Rob to perfection. Li Bingbing is impossibly beautiful and fierce. Curtis, Chao and others fill in cracks admirably. And, conveniently enough, plenty of the cast survives for potential sequels.

The Meg is currently taking a massive bite out of the box office. See it now in all its glory. Will The Meg climb into the top ten of 2018?