“The Meg” (PG-13)
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, “The Meg” has surfaced, a whale of a shark movie tale that’s outrageously entertaining from start to finish. Is it over-the-top ridiculous? Absolutely – it is a giant shark movie after all. The good thing is, star Jason Statham and director Jon Turtletaub know it, and because the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, “The Meg” makes, for the lack of better words, a huge splash.
“The Meg” is short for the Megladon, a prehistoric shark that’s 75 feet long that inhabits the bottom of the ocean. The film follows a deep-sea expedition that encounters the Meg, which following a rescue mission by Jonas Taylor (Statham) finds a way to swim to the ocean’s surface to devour everything living thing in sight with it sights set on a popular beach.
Listen to Tim’s review of “The Meg” and more on the “Paul and Jordana Show” on WCCO-AM Radio. Segment begins 6:30 minutes in.
With playful homages to Steven Spielberg’s classic “Jaws” woven throughout, “The Meg” is driven by intensity and occasional gore, which for queasy members of the audience is limited by the film’s PG-13 rating. And while the film has scary scenes, no doubt, it hardly could be considered a horror film, and in fact, it has a surprisingly light tone despite an escalating body count. “The Meg” can chalk its lighter tone up to its fine dose of humor – some of it is intentional and some of it because of its self-aware ridiculous action scenes – which Statham is obviously familiar with because of his prior “Fast and Furious” movies.
While the monster shark is clearly the star of “The Meg,” the film has a great supporting cast, from Rainn Wilson (who mostly plays it straight) as a billionaire who funds the expedition to Robert Taylor (the star of “Longmire”) as the expedition’s doctor who has a contentious past with Jonas; and the always dependable Cliff Curtis as one of the expedition’s crew to Ruby Rose as a computer techie. The Chinese co-production also features the stunning Bingbing Li as one of the expedition’s scientists and Winston Chau has the leader of the crew.
A movie that’s bound to be roasted by highbrow moviegoers and critics, the best way to enjoy “The Meg” is to simply sit back and enjoy the summer movie popcorn action since the film is not brain surgery, and it knows it. Inadvertently, “The Meg” is the sort of crowd-pleasing movie the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apparently had in mind before it jumped the shark this week and announced its new “Best Popular Film” Oscars category … a move that’s already come back to (shark) bite the AMPAS governing body in the arse.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
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