Kidzworld reviews the film about ginormous prehistoric shark The MEG. This critter makes Jaws look like a sardine! Is the movie Sharknado-like fun? Does it take itself too seriously?
By: Lynn Barker
In The MEG, very deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) who has given up his profession after he couldn’t rescue everyone in one disaster, is called in when a three person crew’s small research sub is disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean. The pilot is Taylor’s ex-wife Celeste (Jessica MacNamee). Jonas’s previous rescue mission was complicated by the attack of a humungous, 75-foot prehistoric shark called a Megalogon. Of course nobody really saw it or believes Jonas did. Problem is, it’s baaaaaack!
Jonas to the rescue!Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Early Rescue and New Project
Jonas Taylor is called to the bottom of the Philippine Trench to rescue the members of a deep diving crew. Something huge keeps hitting their underwater station. He is unable to save everyone and is berated by project head Dr. Heller (Robert Taylor) Five years later off the China coast, cocky, rich investor Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson) tours an impressive, ultra-modern underwater research facility called “Mana One” run by Dr. Minway Zhang (Winston Chao) and his research biologist daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing) who dotes on her 8-year-old daughter Meiying (Sophia Cai).
Biologist Suyin and her daughterCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Mission to a New World
The team has discovered an isolated deep underwater world kept intact by a very cold layer of water that masks its existence. Now, they are ready to break through and explore in a small sub piloted by Celeste and fellow scientists Toshi (Masi Oka of TV’s “Heroes”), and the Wall (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson). Supervising and tracking them at the station are DJ (Page Kennedy), lab designer Jaxx Heard (Ruby Rose), Mac Mackreides (“Fear the Walking Dead’s” Cliff Curtis) and the dreaded Dr. Heller. The sub crew discovers new, unknown species but lose communication with the surface when they are rammed by something huge. Damage is such that they can’t resurface, Celeste is injured and they will run out of air soon.
The Wall and Toshi in the doomed subCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Call for Rescue
Mac takes a helicopter and goes to get Jonas in Thailand. He has given up diving. When he’s told that his ex-wife is one of the doomed crew, he comes along suspecting the research sub was hit by the same huge critter he encountered before. In the meantime, Suyin decides to attempt a rescue herself in another tiny sub. Taylor arrives and follows her in another one-man sub but the MEG attacks Suyin and she has to resurface. Jonas ends up rescuing the Wall and Celeste but Toshi stays behind voluntarily to attract the shark away from the others and pays the ultimate price. Suyin is critical of Jonas again leaving someone behind but there is mutual attraction between these two and young Meiying likes Jonas as well. Jack Morris is angry that so many expensive subs were lost.
Money man Jack MorrisCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
MEG on the Loose
When the MEG charges the station the scientists etc. realize it and other smaller sharks have gotten out of the deep sea trench when an underwater thermal blast made escape easy. The crew follows on a large boat hoping to get a tracking device on the MEG and finally shoot enough poison into it to kill it. This means very narrow escapes for Jonas and finally for Suyin who submerges in a supposedly impenetrable ultra-plastic cage to inject the poison. Other crew members are killed along with the giant shark. The celebration is short however, when it’s realized that the wrong, slightly smaller Megalodon was killed. Big MEG is still out there and headed for a beach full of Chinese tourists!
Suyin in the shark cageCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Chinese swimmers for lunch?Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Outcome?
Cocky money man Morris thinks he can kill the MEG with his own plan. Is he wrong? Will the MEG lunch on every swimmer at the beach? Who will live? Who will sacrifice for the others? Who will be a shark munchie?
Jonas and the crew hope to kill the MEGCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Wrapping Up
We saw The MEG on a big IMAX screen with some great seat-shaking sound. If possible, that’s the route to take for this oversized sharkathon. The movie is packed with cliché horror and disaster movie characters; the hero who needs to make up for screwing up before, the scientist who wants to preserve not kill whatever “it” is in order to study it, the sort of slimy character who “mans up” and sacrifices him or herself, the money man who always puts profit over human life, the funny Black character comic relief dude, etc. etc. They are all here.
The MEG cruises the beachCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Scenes in which a beach-load of Chinese tourists get shark-cruised as dinner morsels, a large-ish boat is sunk by the ginormous shark and a mom wonders if her swimming son is a victim are all pure Jaws 3.0 (without the mechanical shark that kept breaking down). The film has a weird mixed serio-comic tone. Shark Week” is mentioned but never “Sharknado” so we have more than a camp laugh fest here but not quite a totally serious monster/disaster film either. Despite the cliché factor, the cast succeeds in creating believable characters although the budding romance between the Suyin and Jonas characters seems a little forced. Little daughter Meiying is played for full precocious cuteness by young actress Sophia Cai.
Jonas with Suyin and daughter in backgroundCourtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Overall, if you don’t care about cliché moments and characters you’ve seen a hundred times before and just wanna watch a cool, humungous CGI shark crush and nibble on everything he encounters, in IMAX and with some really seat-shaking sound, this is the film for you. Despite its flaws, The MEG is silly fun so we go four stars.
The MEG Movie Rating: 
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The MEG is in theaters now!
Have Your Say
Do you and BFFs enjoy dangerous giant critter movies? Are you afraid of the water ever since you saw Jaws on home video? Does bigger mean better? Swim on by with a comment below.
