You know when there are a whole range of good movies out there – the car park at the local cinema is full and then you worry about getting a good seat! I was watching the TV the other day and there were reports that Jason Statham was annoyed because his latest film The MEG had been released and he had just seen the final film and was upset because the editor had cut out the really disgusting gorrie stuff and basically dumbed down his film to a PG-13. So I thought why not let’s go see if he was right! Therefore the topic of this week’s film review is “The MEG”.
Jason Statham is famous now for his action hero type films and this one doesn’t disappoint on that level if you are a true die hard Statham fanatic. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away but Jason plays (Jonas Taylor) the guy you call if you get stuck in your submarine and need rescuing. But it starts with it not going too well and the nuclear sub he is now on trying to find survivors gets attacked by something pretty big!
We then have a five year gap and Jason has hit the bottle and won’t go back to his old job. We also have a state of the art underwater marine research facility looking for a lost world deep in the ocean in the South China Sea. Tragedy strikes again and the only one they can call to rescue the small team stuck on the sub is – yes you guessed it Jonas. Funnily enough Jonas’s ex-wife that is piloting the craft; this adds funny banter in the film and the interaction between the research staff is also funny.
One of the stand out actors is little eight year old Meiying played by Sophie Cai. Her funny one liners with Jonas and other characters keep it all a bit light at times but don’t let that fool you because you end up jumping out of your seat and spilling your popcorn several times – even though you know it’s going to happen you still can’t stop it.
There are lots of similarities with “Jaws – The Movie” even the beach scene when the shark comes in to get the swimmers but The MEG has a slightly different twist all through the film which keeps you guessing. The FX is a bit obvious but the underwater scenes and sets are good and more realistic. Lots of fake blood and limbs and shark teeth galore!
I can remember after watching Jaws (many years ago now) that it took me years to go back into the sea – I can’t say I feel the same level of anxiety after watching this one but nevertheless was an entertaining movie but probably won’t win any Oscars this year. I’d give it a solid 6/10.
Mean Productions 