The Meg – 3 out of 5
When I first heard that there was going to be a movie that had Jason Statham battling the extinct monster shark; the megalodon, I was all-in without ever needing to hear more. However, after the first trailer came out, I learned The Meg was based on a book by author Steve Alten. My friend lent me the book and it was a difficult read to say the least. Underlying sexism, weak characters, strangely intricate and overly detail description of vehicles and a slow moving story made it a chore to read but I had hope the film would be a marked improvement because the trailer made it look like it wasn’t taking itself too seriously and gave the promise it was going to be a popcorn action, slightly silly monster movie. Sadly, it wasn’t that and was rather a movie that took itself way, waaaaaay too seriously.
 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures "Sup? Nice cage. I look forward to seeing if I can fit it in my mouth." |
After research scientists discover a deeper section of the Marianas Trench, they are attached by a large, mysterious aggressor. To save the team, crew member James “Mac” Mackreides (Cliff Curtis) enlists the help of his friend and rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham). While under, he discovers the trench has hidden the believed extinct monster shark; the megalodon. Taylor saves the crew but, in doing so, creates a way for the shark to enter the surface water and it is now on its way to one of the busiest beaches in the world. Now it’s up to Taylor and research scientist Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing) to stop the monster before it makes it to its own swimmers buffet.
 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures Swimming is good cardio so eat all you want, sharky! |
The Meg certainly has its good qualities and elements that make it a decently entertaining shark film. It has some really great funny moments that keep the tone light in various sequences of the film, the cast is fantastic and offers a diverse group of characters (although, it still has the white male character as the ultimate hero) and it’s about a giant extinct shark—that alone is cool because who doesn’t love the idea of a monster shark as an antagonist? However, the movie was held back a bit for me due to several elements that include some generic storytelling, weak action pieces and a tone that can’t quite seem to figure itself out.
 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures "Awww. Wooks wike somebody's cwanky." |
From a story perspective, The Meg suffers from a lot of cliché moments and plot points. In theory, these are okay because all stories are the same when you boil them down to their basics but too often this film doesn’t development them and ultimately feel like these elements are placed out of expectation instead of need. For example, there is an incredibly pointless love story between Taylor and Suyin that is never really developed between the characters but rather developed through Suyin’s daughter (played by the adorable Shuya Sophia Cai—this character was a genuine charm of the movie because she was very funny). Add in the lack of chemistry between the actors and the fact they never really have any moments together of substance that equals to attraction and this feels so utterly pointless that its inclusion felt like the script was pieced together from a book called Screenwriting 101. However, this is ultimately not that big of a deal because of our heteronormative society we see this needlessly tacked on heterosexual love angle play out in movies all the freaking time. I don’t know if Hollywood realizes this but you don’t need a love B-story for every film. Two characters can just be friends and colleagues the entire time.
 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures In defense though, he is a handsome man. Even the shark fell in love with him. No joke. It was a very awkward part of the movie. |
Finally, The Meg delivers kinda stale action set pieces and a tone that can’t really figure itself out. Granted, there are some very cool, very tense moments concerning the megalodon and the team of scientists and the bald badass dude with the killer voice but too often, so many moments feel sterile and almost mundane; even when we get the “all hell breaks loose” moment on the crowded beach, so few of the gags and moments lack “oomph” and anything that sets them apart from other shark films. Additionally, I'm not one to complain about ratings but not going with an "R" rating and forgoing getting to see some blood with the shark action only emphasized how weak the action scenes are. Finally, concerning the film’s tone, there are too many times where the film takes itself way too seriously and seems to forget that it is a monster movie about an extinct breed of shark that is capable of swallowing people whole. The trailer sells the film as a feature that won’t take itself too seriously and acknowledges its silly premise but the film itself jumps back and forth from light-hearted goofy monster movie camp to something that almost is trying to be overly dramatic. Perhaps, if the film leaned harder into its ridiculous premise, the feature might have been a lot more fun but, as it stands, its tone is very distracting.
 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures The tone is all over the place but I can't deny how funny Wilson is in this film. |
I don’t want to sound like everything about The Meg is bad because it is far from it. The film does supply some really cool moments with the shark, there are some fantastically tense moments, the build up to the creature’s appearance was handled well and done at a great pace and the cast is fantastic. Granted, the characters are not developed well and there are several of them that are introduced and sold like they are meaningful to our main characters but are ultimately left dangling in the breeze but, overall, they are all very good. You have Statham in all his badass glory, Rainn Wilson providing some great lighthearted moments, Cliff Curtis providing some great camaraderie with Statham, Winston Chao bringing some gravitas, and the rest of the cast filling in without feeling like they are just there to actually fill in or act as set dressing.
 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures Here's a shot of the non-shark characters. |
The Meg definitely didn’t live up to what I hoped the film would be. Had the film leaned more towards a tone like Piranha 3D and not towards something more serious like Godzilla, the experience for me might have been better. Hell, if the film would have matched the tone of Kong: Skull Island (but with a shark instead of a giant gorilla) the experience would have been nearly perfect. If it had achieved the balance of being fun, exciting and humorous along the way, The Meg would have been absolutely fantastic. However, the source material is pretty bad to begin with and I actually consider this an example of the movie being better than the book. Looking at it from that perspective, this one is a winner; a serviceable winner but a winner nonetheless.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar