Story by Grant Dillard, Staff Writer
Graphic courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Shark movies are a dime a dozen these days. Every year more movies featuring a killer shark come out, whether by theatrical release or straight to DVD or TV. “The Meg”, based on the novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror is just another shark movie to add to the lineup. Though it does have one redeeming factor: Jason Statham.
Jonas Taylor (Statham) is a rescue diver who is tasked with saving a group of scientists trapped in a submarine. He comes close to saving the last survivor, but Taylor is ultimately forced to leave him behind when a giant shark attacks the submarine and causes it to explode. Five years later, while on an expedition into a deep section of the Mariana Trench, three members of an underwater facility known as Mana One are attacked by the same giant shark, Megalodon. In an effort to save the lives of the three crewmembers, Mana One recruits Taylor for a rescue mission which places him face to face with the shark that attacked him years ago.
The film’s biggest weakness is its tone. This could have been either a serious survival film with nail-biting suspense and tension like “Jaws,” or it could have gone for the more tongue-in-cheek B-movie style that other movies like “Sharknado” have embraced. The film tries to have it both ways tonally, which ultimately does not work in its favor.
The best thing the film has going for it is Statham. With such films under his belt as the “Transporter” and “The Expendables” series, as well as the later “Fast and Furious” sequels, he has garnered a reputation as one of the best action stars of our time. Not only is Statham incredible when it comes to the action and stunt work, but he also has a natural likability which makes his character in this film easy to root for. If any other actor was chosen for the lead role, the film would have been much worse.
Another standout is Rainn Wilson as Jack Morris, the CEO of Mana One. Though Morris is the archetypical selfish guy who only cares about money even with the dangerous events going on, Wilson’s performance adds more levity to an otherwise one-dimensional character. Those familiar with his role as Dwight from “The Office” know that Wilson is great when it comes to comedy, but he is quite good in dramatic roles as well. There is a scene in which he gives a speech to the crew of Mana One, apologizing for all the death and destruction that has taken place. In this scene, his delivery is very strong and almost touching.
Compared to Statham and Wilson, the rest of the cast do not stand out. The film has a handful of talented actors, but it, unfortunately, does not give their characters the right amount of development for audiences to get invested in them. As a result, scenes with these characters that should build suspense for the audience seem to fall flat.
Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing) is the only other supporting character that the film attempts to give some development to, but her major purpose in the film is to serve as a potential love interest for Taylor. Cliff Curtis, Robert Taylor and Masi Oka all do decent work given the material they have, but it is hard to see their characters as anything other than possible victims for the shark to consume. Even Ruby Rose, who has proven to be quite talented in such hits as “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” and “John Wick Chapter 2” seems to lack any energy or screen presence in this film.
“The Meg” is not the worst movie of the year, but it just is not as good as it could have been. Along with its lackluster supporting cast, the film doesn’t really succeed as either a survival film or a cheesy killer shark movie. In the end, Statham is the glue that holds “The Meg” together, resulting in a decent but forgettable shark movie that is worth seeing at least once.