Review: ‘The Meg’ 2 out of 4 Stars

The Meg |  2 out of 4 Stars | Rated PG-13

By Kyle Osborne

Not quite good enough to be “good” and not quite bad enough to be “bad”, The Meg, nevertheless, finds a space somewhere between JAWS and Sharknado as a decent diversion for summer moviegoers. Especially as seen in IMAX, The Meg splashes enough eye-grabbing visuals across the screen to keep one entertained, if not exactly enthralled. I wasn’t mad at it-I thought it worked fine as a brainless popcorn flick.

An international crew of deep sea scientists, bankrolled by a billionaire (Rainn Wilson) have had their submersible crashed by some kind of giant…wait, make that prehistoric, Megalodon shark. Twenty-five meters long and super pissed, apparently.

Enter Jason Statham as a former rescue diver who’s been living in haunted exile ever since a disastrous attempt killed some and hurt others. Can he dig deep within his soul and help save the day some twenty years later? No fair telling (I’m kidding-why else is he here?) but the self-aware fish tale runs through every shark film trope known to man without taking things too seriously.  You’ll do more chuckling than breath-holding, but director John Turtletaub (no stranger to box office bombs) uses the freedom afforded by a genre pic to just let loose and throw any attempts at serious film making overboard.

There are several good set pieces (the crane aboard the boat is used to exciting effect), some truly bad acting, and a moment of suspense as a little pooch doggie-paddles as fast as he can away from the shark.  I say “suspense” because you wonder if this movie is truly ballsy enough to let something happen to the little four-legged swimmer.

There are many smart, socially conscious films out there this weekend. There’s even a better action film in theatres, in case you’re among the remaining few who haven’t made Tom Cruise richer this summer. But there’s only one movie that a certain segment of society will want to see under “enhanced” physical circumstances. Or a movie, let’s say, whose natural audience has a more “forgiving” perspective.

The Meg is that movie.