It’s as true in 2018 as it was in 1975: There’s no better way to beat the summer heat than a movie about a really, really big shark. From “Jaws” to “The Shallows,” moviegoers have been gobbling up flicks about treacherous fish for decades, and it’s time to meet our newest finned foe: “The Meg.” It’s the nickname for the megalodon, a prehistoric shark bigger than a tour bus, but all you need to know about John Turteltaub’s watery summer action flick is it’s Jason Statham fighting a shark. Statham vs. shark — you’re gonna need a bigger popcorn.
Based on the novel “Meg” by Steve Alten, the film delivers on the silly-stupid-summer-fun promise, while also exceeding expectations in terms of action and set-pieces. It’s far bigger than simple one-setting B-movies like “The Shallows” or “47 Meters Down,” boasting a large international cast and several showdowns with the Meg that each are wilder than the last.
Our hero, Jonas (Statham), first encountered the Meg during a deep sea rescue mission and had to abandon two of his team members to save the rest. Blamed for their deaths and called crazy for his claims that “something was down there,” he’s now washed up and drunk on a beach in Thailand. But as the only person who has pulled off rescues that deep, he’s recruited for a mission at a research facility in the waters off Shanghai. The only reason he shows up is his ex-wife Lori (Jessica McNamee) is piloting the research sub that’s been stranded by a large, mysterious sea creature in a deep sea trench.
Aboard the research facility are a motley crew of scientists and hangers-on, including father-daughter team Dr. Minway Zhang (Winston Chao) and Suyin (Li Bingbing), man-child billionaire funder Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson), various techies (Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Masi Oka and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), Jonas’s nemesis, Dr. Heller (Robert Taylor), and of course, a preternaturally precocious child, Suyin’s daughter Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai).
With so many characters, an established star persona in Statham and a familiar formula, “The Meg” follows and plays with genre convention in a pleasing way. If there’s anything missing, it’s character backstory, but as it turns out, that’s pretty much unnecessary here. We know why Jonas shows up, and then why he sticks around, charmed by the chatty Meiying, as well as her headstrong mother, Suyin. After that, it’s just declarations about who knows the most about shark anatomy, and jousting matches with the Meg in tiny submersibles.
It’s exactly right for the doldrums of summer.
MOVIE REVIEW
“The Meg”
Grade: B
Starring Jason Statham, Li Bingbing and Winston Chao. Directed by Jon Turteltaub.
Rated PG-13 for action/peril, bloody images and some language. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 53 minutes.
Bottom line: Character backstory is missing, but it exceeds expectations on action
