SOMETHING TO CHOMP ON

“The Meg” is a film about a research team known as “Mana One” that discovers that there’s more below the ocean floor than previously thought. When the research team gets trapped down there, Jonas Taylor, played by Jason Statham (“Cellular,” “The Transporter”) is sent to rescue them. When returning to the research base after a daring rescue, the team learns that a thought-to-be-extinct megalodon has broken through the ocean floor and is now able to swim near them and feed on anything and anyone in its path.

A lot of critics have recently compared this to the Samuel L. Jackson film “Deep Blue Sea.” That is an insult – to “Deep Blue Sea.” “Deep Blue Sea” is a classic B-movie that knows exactly what it is. No one involved took themselves too seriously. In “The Meg” however, everyone, with the exception of Jason Statham and Rainn Wilson, takes the movie way too seriously. That’s the biggest problem with the film; it takes itself way more seriously than a movie of its caliber should. The first act is solely devoted to making us, the audience, care about one-dimensional characters that would be best left as food for the enormous, prehistoric shark.

That’s not to say that there is no enjoyment to be had with “The Meg.” The scares in the film were effective enough, and there are a few extremely white-knuckled action set-pieces in the second and third acts. In addition, Jason Statham and Rainn Wilson are the most entertaining people to watch. Jason Statham is doing his typical Jason Statham-isms, and Rainn Wilson knows exactly what kind of movie he’s actually in. He doesn’t take the movie seriously at all, and that’s what makes his performance outstanding. He’s constantly cracking jokes (that are well above the traditional Marvel-esque jokes audiences have gotten too used to). Despite the lackluster supporting characters and pacing problem, I still had a fun time with “The Meg” and will give it three out of five stars.