A massive creature attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. With time running out, rescue diver Jonas Taylor must save the crew and the ocean itself from an unimaginable threat -- a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon.
The Meg was basically a version of Jurassic World, but for aquatic creatures, or shall I say an aquatic creature. The film centred around this massive creature which may sound boring, but in reality it really offered a lot and saw Jason Statham playing the main character in a film that to be honest, had a fairly similar plot to many other films. But what this film did well that set it aside, was to shock and surprise through twists, this film had a lot of those and they sure were surprising! But did the Meg get catch of the day? Or did it flounder? Here are my thoughts.
I'll start with what I liked about the film. First of all, the film started in an epic manner. It was a really interesting, yet mysterious beginning that really seemed to set off the rest of the film's plot very well - by showing past encounters with the Megalodon. Not only did this help to build the mystery surrounding the predator but it also helped to solidify and personify the plot to really help us as an audience to see first hand the experiences and close encounters with the beast. There wasn't a clear message of what the beginning scene meant at the start, but what I liked was that it still managed to really excite the audience and to keep the audience constantly on edge - looking for the shark, without knowing what the mission was about or who the characters were. However, after this the characters were introduced really nicely, fairly slowly, but by the first 10 minutes the audience had a good perception of the different characters. Right from the start, the film began to build up the characters relationships and personalities really well, and what's more is that they developed and adapted throughout the film which kept them refreshing and excitable. The film introduced the shark fairly early on too, in a really mysterious and confusing manner by presenting us with the team who were under attack but from an unknown source - this just really helped to make these introduction scenes seem really tense and made the audience feel on edge. But what I especially enjoyed seeing about the Megalodon was the constant emotion of victory, throughout the film we were constantly tricked into thinking that the shark was dead and that the team had won, only for twists to happen such as another one jumping out of the water and capsizing the boat. Many of these types of twists were fairly predictable but they were still fun and enjoyable to experience - but I did really enjoy seeing the perception of helplessness and being watched (assisted by the camera angles) where we were constantly guessing where the shark was and what it was. This just helped to keep the plot unpredictable and truly thrilling. I really enjoyed the effect that the audio had on the audience too - I feel the choices were really good and it was nice to have themed audio tracks for the different locations and themes that the film dipped into, but the best part of the audio was the subtle changes that had a big impact in the mood of the audience. Suddenly changing, and even though nothing had changed on screen, the audio had a great impact of making us all feel on edge and excited for what would happen next. Speaking of tense scenarios, there were a lot of them! I know this film is a thriller but every few minutes the audience were thrown into another attack or threat, but surprisingly this actually made the film better. Simply because it felt realistic and helped to make the constant threat seem real to the audience, and it really portrayed the constant danger that the characters were in really nicely.
In a typical thriller, the camera angles and shots need to be on point to have the desired effect and throughout this film they were done amazingly. From pan shots to showing a shark coming towards a child, only separated by glass, the variety of cinematography in this film was amazing and I found myself in awe at many of the different scenes that were shown to us. The camera work in this film was ace, and I especially liked seeing Dwight Schrut.. (whoops) Rainn Wilson stepping out of the helicopter in some Air Jordan 1's, very nice! Throughout the film there were plenty of exciting, engaging and breathtaking scenes which actually helped the plot and the way in which it was deciphered by the audience, despite the variety of changes and character developments, the story line and plot of the film seemed very simple and straightforward. There were no points in the film where I found myself confused or asking questions of what I was seeing before me, the film essentially held the audiences hand and walked them through the story - definitely one of my favourite aspects of this film. I really did enjoy how the film was made to look so complex and interesting, when in reality it was a relatively simple and straightforward plot. But it was full of engaging scenes where we weren't sure if any of the characters would be eaten, and even though some of them were, it still felt like a victory when the Megalodon was killed at the end of the film. The addition of various emotional scenes in the film really helped to add to the authenticity of it, there were a variety of scenes that were upsetting, such as when Suyin has to console her child about the death of her father, or as to when Toshi closes the hatch to save his friends and to be eaten by the shark. But the film combined these sad emotions with a variety of anger and entertainment at the varied action scenes throughout the film and they were done really well to evoke the required emotion from the audience at the perfect time. Nicely done!
As you've probably guessed, I liked the film. But there were plenty of issues that I found during this film too, for example some of the characters choices seemed to be a bit 'cheesy' and unbelievable. A prime example of this was Jonas explaining how he won't go diving again and how adamant he was of his decision, but then the next scene involves him - you guessed it, diving. This just didn't seem believable and if anything, slightly ruined the credibility and authenticity of his character because of this 'pushover' attitude that the film personified. There also seemed to be a lack of long lasting emotion to the film too - so when Toshi was killed, the film didn't really push this scene to the limit in terms of evoking as much of a long term sadness from the audience as it may have wanted. Especially how after a few minutes everyone has seemed to have forgotten about him, apart from the odd mention from a close friend, but apart from that there wasn't a real emotional bond that we were exposed to after his death which was a slight shame.
Some of the scenes felt a little dry and boring too, such as the use of a typical shark/large animal set of camera angles and the near misses that were clearly a decoy weren't very believable either. A good example of this is when Jack Morris is missed by the shark, we as an audience are shocked and relieved and then it comes back and takes another bite with him in it. These scenes just felt a little cheap and unprofessional, they were a little annoying too, especially how all of the characters seemed to have a dislike for him, despite Jack actually not seeming to be that bad, although a typical 'richman' personality was placed on him which wasn't needed and was really unwelcomed by the audience.
Overall, I would give this film an 8. The cinematography to show near misses with the Megalodon and to help portray certain emotions to the audiences was done really nicely and had a really powerful and effective effect on the audience. Other elements such as the adapting character relationships and the constant threat of the Megalodon being conveyed to the audience, were really nice features of the film that helped to build the credibility and added to the emotion behind the film. However, there were also plenty of issues surrounding the creation of the film, its characters and how everyone was portrayed which caused a few problems with the film and overall, lowered its enjoyment factor and just felt like the film was trying too hard to be a success when if anything, it went the other way. I would say to go and watch this film however, it was good and really enjoyable but it certainly won't be ripping up any trees anytime soon.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this. I hope you have a great day. :)
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