The Meg

The Meg – During an exploration expedition, scientists discover a deeper layer to the ocean below the Mariana Trench and with it a whole new world of never before seen marine life. Unfortunately, this includes a previously-thought-extinct enormous shark called a Megalodon. After a vicious attack, most of the team escape but soon discover the prehistoric killing machine has followed them. Realising it has a hugely populated beach in its sights, can the team stop it before it reaches civilisation?

The Meg (2018) – Director: John Turteltaub

Rating: 12

Running Length: 133 mins

Starring: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller

REVIEW: ‘THE MEG’

Loosely based on Steve Alten’s book ‘Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror’, ‘The Meg’ follows expert diver, Jonas Taylor – who swore off ever diving again after a traumatic experience – returning to the depths to save a group of scientists (including his ex-wife) from becoming a snack from a recently discovered, non-extinct Megalodon. Jonas is played by the everyone’s favourite not-quite-cockney, Jason Statham, who is always watchable especially for a more outlandish plotline such as this.

While there are plenty of inevitably poor decisions made by otherwise intelligent characters, ‘The Meg’ doesn’t become a frustrating mess that other, similar movies often fall into. Instead when faced with characters who are having to make split-second decisions which sometimes turn out to be wrong, the story still pulls together to be mostly believable. It is also enjoyable to watch a group mostly desk-jockey scientists take on a threat no-one has ever faced before and other than a few moments of feeling out of their depth, they rise to the challenge despite their fears.

Don’t make any mistake, ‘The Meg’ isn’t highbrow drama, it is unashamedly over-the-top with plenty of satisfying, exciting action sequences, confidently being exactly what you want it to be.

CONTENT: IS ‘THE MEG’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The movie opens in a submarine that is badly damaged and has numerous dead bodies strewn about it. A survivor calls out for help and is clearly in pain as a large bloody gash is shown on-screen. In order to ensure as many people survive as possible, a character has to leave some behind. Voices of these people can be heard, panicking and shouting ‘Don’t leave us!’. Shortly afterwards, the submarine explodes, killing anyone left on board.

The first act of the movie is mostly about rescuing those on the submersible when they are attacked by an unknown huge creature. This involves lots of suspense, camera shots of dark, murky water which could be being seen from the perspective of the Megalodon and numerous jump-scares. In the rescue attempt two other submersibles are sent down and each one is attacked by creatures which want to kill and eat those on board.

A female character, Suyin, walks into male character, Jonas’ room, not realising that he is wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. While nothing explicit is seen, she is shocked to see that he is ‘naked’ and awkwardly attempts to avert her gaze. When she leaves the room, she looks through the window of the door to get another glimpse of his body while he isn’t looking.

A young girl walks around the research station underwater and becomes aware of the Megalodon looking at her, it stays still for a few seconds before suddenly biting at the glass. The camera cuts and the girl’s scream is heard. When others rush to her aid, the shark is gone but teeth marks can be seen in the glass. A whale bumps at the glass a few times and is then snatched into the Megalodon’s jaws; the shark shakes its head about, killing the whale. Blood is seen in the water and the whale’s tail is severed completely from its body. Kids are likely to be upset by the vicious and sudden nature of this attack against a peaceful, young whale.

When the team try to stop the Megalodon once it reaches the surface, they come across the remains of a boat it has destroyed. Several small sharks lie dead in the water and it is explained that they are the victims of shark poachers who cut off the fins and throw the sharks back into the water to bleed to death. One character disgustedly says this is just for ‘a bowl of soup’. Shortly after this, a character pulls out a bloody severed arm from the water.

In order to get close enough to put a tracking device onto the Megalodon, a character has to swim out to it. When he gets close, the fin disappears under the water and there are around 20 seconds of him looking above and below the water, desperately trying to see where it is. It suddenly appears in front of him and as he attempts to return to the boat (swimming and by being pulled by a winch), the shark speeds after him, almost getting him until he reaches safety.

A shark is killed and is strung up by its tail on the back of a boat. A character asks another to take a photo of him next to its mouth, the other character jokingly tells him that it won’t be impressive unless he actually puts his head inside the mouth of the shark. The shark then suddenly moves, causing this character to fall into the water.

A character is badly injured and has an emotional talk with a loved one before they die, shortly after a child is informed of the death (although there is no dialogue).

We haven’t included details of all the scary scenes as they are all very similar in strength and we do not wish to spoil the movie however shark attacks are numerous and a child who struggles with one may find the rest of the movie too much.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘THE MEG’ FOR KIDS?

‘The Meg’ is exactly what it promises to be with plenty of exciting shark attacks but with lots of scary moments of suspense, jump scares and some deaths, we recommend this movie for kids aged 10 and over.

• Violence: 4/5 (when an underwater vehicle is hit hard by the Megaladon, a character falls and is impaled in the stomach by a long tool. They groan in pain and some blood is seen, however they are not shown to suffer greatly. Lots of aggressive shark attacks, some characters are killed)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (two characters sacrifice their own lives in order to save others. Some characters who the audience are emotionally invested in are killed)
• Fear Factor: 4/5 (lots of intense moments of suspense, especially when the shark disappears but it is known that it will come back immediately for another attack)
• Sexual Content: 1/5
• Bad Language: 3/5 (infrequent cursing and blasphemy which is mostly mild in tone. Nothing too strong)
• Dialogue: 1/5 (when on a research expedition, a character speaks of ‘insertion’, causing another to giggle at the innuendo. The first character says in jest ‘Is everything sexual with you guys?’)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of friendship, family, escaping from and attempting to stop an alpha predator, the perils of exploration, greed, bravery and sacrifice.

Words by Laura Record

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