The Meg

Name: The Meg
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror
Released: August 10, 2018
Duration: 113 min
Rating: 46
Cast: Bingbing Li, Cliff Curtis, Jason Statham, Jessica McNamee, Masi Oka

2018

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Mixed or average reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 318 Ratings

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5.5	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 318 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: August 10, 2018 | PG-13

Starring: Bingbing Li, Cliff Curtis, Jason Statham, Jessica McNamee, Masi Oka, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Page Kennedy, Rainn Wilson, Robert Taylor, Ruby Rose, Shuya Sophia Cai, Winston Chao, Yoson An

Summary: A deep-sea submersible—part of an international undersea observation program—has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) isA deep-sea submersible—part of an international undersea observation program—has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew—and the ocean itself—from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below.… Expand

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 113 min

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Critic Reviews

RogerEbert.com Peter Sobczynski

Aug 9, 2018

The end result may be little more than an exponentially more expensive version of those cheapo Syfy channel movies, but at least it has the good taste to be exponentially better as well. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Aug 13, 2018

Statham is the real thing, and he’s key to the effectiveness of this good-natured and often highly ridiculous adaptation of Steve Alten’s 1997 sci-fi potboiler. Read full review

Niles Schwartz

Aug 8, 2018

Jaws works as both a horror film and a human drama. The Meg doesn't aspire to the earlier film's pathos (its flagrant callbacks to Jaws draw attention to how grotesquely adolescent it is by comparison), but that's because it's above all else a movie-star vehicle, and it succeeds on that front. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Aug 8, 2018

Whether you like The Meg depends on how much you like seeing Jason Statham in and out of a wetsuit, doing action-hero things. He's certainly good at it, and he's the best thing about the movie, not that the competition is particularly fierce. Read full review

The Film Stage Jordan Raup

Aug 8, 2018

With The Meg, Turtletaub flounders about, failing to wring out a basic amount of tension in most scenes, leaving us to swim around in circles with only spare, Statham-infused signs of life. Read full review

Alan Scherstuhl

Aug 9, 2018

Turteltaub is too buoyant for horror — the deaths and danger never sink in. Read full review

Johnny Oleksinski

Aug 8, 2018

She also doesn’t satisfy. At all. After experiencing Meg, you’ll crack open your Little Shark Book and call up Jaws. Read full review

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User Reviews

BilalPervaiz58

Nov 8, 2018

It is Tremendous because it is not a just movie on shark attack but a Movie in which they explore hidden deep sea places which and never discovered before and which has new giant size creatures there and fighting with them also when it comes to Jason Statham its full of Tremendous Action &It is Tremendous because it is not a just movie on shark attack but a Movie in which they explore hidden deep sea places which and never discovered before and which has new giant size creatures there and fighting with them also when it comes to Jason Statham its full of Tremendous Action & Tremdnous Dialoges...
So everything Story , Cast , VFX, Dialogues etc is Tremendous...
I really Liked the Film, Best Regards… Expand

2 of 9 users found this helpful27

JACK15q

Jun 28, 2020

I love this movie it has action, entertainment and hilarious scenes. I don't know why lots of people are hating.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

alerikanderson

May 9, 2023

The Meg is NOT the best shark movie like some weird people say, but it does offer some harmless, uh, I MEAN, um, scares to enjoy .

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

stjude_bruh

Sep 6, 2018

Every summer, there seems to be a new shark movie that is released just as folks are heading out to the beach. Maybe they’re made to scare people off, or maybe it’s based on the fact that these movies make a lot of money. The Meg is by far the most high-profile, effects driven shark movieEvery summer, there seems to be a new shark movie that is released just as folks are heading out to the beach. Maybe they’re made to scare people off, or maybe it’s based on the fact that these movies make a lot of money. The Meg is by far the most high-profile, effects driven shark movie since Jaws. No, the terribly awful Sharknado films do not count, and they are made for TV. Going back to this film, the previews marketed the film as a fun time and exhilarating ride. However, even though I can say that the movie was not terrible, it definitely wasn’t much fun, and that is the major disappointment.As always, let us begin with the aspects of the film that were good. First off, we have Jason Statham as the lead role, which is an opportunity that he makes the most of. His character, Jonas Taylor, is a former rescue diver haunted by an incident in the past that resulted in the lives of two scientists. Living a quiet life in Thailand, he is recruited by Mana One, an ocean research facility, to rescue trapped members in a submarine that have been attacked by an unknown creature. His character develops as the movie progresses, going from a loner who wants to live a quiet life to a leader who places the lives of his crew mates above his own. Along with Statham, I also felt that Dwight K. Schrute (I mean Rainn Wilson) was entertaining as Dwight K. Schrute being a billionaire and fighting a prehistoric shark. Of course, the most important aspect of an action movie is the action, in which the film di not fail to deliver entirely. The effects were realistic CGI, which is an achievement considering that computerizing a 75 foot-long shark to fight props and submarines is a hard feat. We can thank the Chinese production companies that spent the money to make this film when a Hollywood-based probably wouldn’t do so. However, even though the action sequences are intense, there are much fewer scenes than I would’ve preferred to see.

This leads to the main weakness for this film: the lack of action sequences and fun. I care about quality more than anything, but when a film is marketed as a fun, action-packed adventure, that is the expectation that you go into the theater with. Unfortunately with The Meg, there is a lot more talking present. It ruins the pace of the film because the action will be interrupted multiple times by dialogue that, while relevant, is misplaced with the pacing. Also, the lead actress, Li Bingbing, did quite poorly when speaking English lines that it was distracting. When she spoke Mandarin, the scenes were well acted. It may be strange, but the same thing happens in Bollywood films. Since english is not the first and primary language for these actors, it is hard to speak and act it out properly in a movie.

I went into the theater expecting to have a good time, but a good time is not exactly what happened. It wasn’t a bad film because there was a clear objective for the characters as part of the plot and it wasn’t cheesy. However, it wasn’t fun or action-packed, which was seemingly the goal that the movie had in order to attract audiences. It certainly has, with over $460 million made across the globe at the moment. However, it definitely isn’t worth viewing in theaters. I say, it may be worth your $2 renting it on Redbox, but only if you want to see Jason Statham and Dwight take on sharks.

Rating wise, I would bestow this film 6 stars out of 10. No shark puns here.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Tyranian

Aug 8, 2019

The visuals are good but the movie fails to do anything clever or interesting.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

MattBrady99

Sep 30, 2018

“Well, I’m in trouble”

Jason Statham vs. giant shark - How’s that for a movie pitch. Ridiculous, but could be fun. And it was enjoyable, especially the last 20 minutes. Which shouldn’t be surprising the film swept at the box office and lives up to the concept of Statham fighting a 2.6“Well, I’m in trouble”

Jason Statham vs. giant shark - How’s that for a movie pitch. Ridiculous, but could be fun. And it was enjoyable, especially the last 20 minutes. Which shouldn’t be surprising the film swept at the box office and lives up to the concept of Statham fighting a 2.6 million year old, thought to be extinct shark. Just don’t be surprised if this becomes a meme in a few years.

The movie literally ends with a Thai version of ‘’Hey Mickey you’re so fine’.

Still, ‘The Meg’ was a lot of fun. Is it going to change cinema forever or give you a unique experience? Not really. It’s one of the dumbest movies of 2018, and yet, you can find some enjoyment out of it. You can even laugh at the corny scenes which was meant to be taken seriously. However, if I have to critique, I will gladly do so.

This movie lacks balance in tone and knowing what it’s trying to be. There’s horror elements when the Megalodon attacks. There’s comedic elements that stops it from being gloomy. There’s dumb popcorn fluff to keep things vibrant. And there’s suspense when the shark is near. All tones mashed together with uneven results. I didn’t find any of the humor that funny and the only time I chuckled was something unintentional.

The amount of charm Statham brings to the character already makes his presence likable. Too bad they didn’t give him any memorable one liners. You could pick out lines like “Chomp on this you ugly bastard.”, or “My god, it’s a Megalodon” - those are alright, although nothing will top “Smile you son of a b-”.

Every time there’s a death scene or somebody is going to die, it’s telegraphed and obvious. Supporting characters with very little screen time - They goners. Also, I’ve haven’t seen Masi Oka in anything for awhile and I was surprised to see him here. Loved him in ‘Heroes’. Man, they did him wrong here.

The CGI is OK, some of the acting wasn’t that good, and the overall experience feels like a water down blood-fest.

Jon Turteltaub (the director) openly said the original cut was brutal and "Horrifying, Disgusting". In interviews, Turteltaub expressed his disappointment that we won’t see this cut in cinemas. Which makes me wonder what the original cut was like, not just in violence, but how terrifying it might be. Will it add anything? Who knows. Could have taken an enjoyable dumb film into a bloody good time. Perhaps this generations “Deep Blue Sea”.

Overall Rating: Fin… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

ShiArch

Aug 15, 2018

This is the most insincere movie I have ever seen. It seems that everyone from Director, writer, actors, vfx guys were uninterested and they knew that its gonna be a bad movie. Everything is half baked, unifinished and blood is missing in a shark movie! Yep, you don't believe me then see forThis is the most insincere movie I have ever seen. It seems that everyone from Director, writer, actors, vfx guys were uninterested and they knew that its gonna be a bad movie. Everything is half baked, unifinished and blood is missing in a shark movie! Yep, you don't believe me then see for yourself. Its attrociously bad. Heck,even Sharkanado series is better than this as at least they were upfront about what they were.
0/10… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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33	#33 Most Discussed Movie of 2018
30	#30 Most Shared Movie of 2018