The Meg

Chinese people like American blockbusters, yet at the same time they don't have the same demands from them as the American market. And movie studios realize that targeting a multi-million dollar market, which by virtue of the absence of any cultural alternative has inherently easier movie motives, is the way to a giant vault above the city where they can jump into a pile of dollars in a one-piece bathing suit. The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon, was a similar attempt at such a breakthrough, and it lived up to the expectations of a colorful, passionate, expensive action movie starring an American superstar. The Meg is aimed purely at the Chinese market, just by the way the actors are forced to act... Chinese. Excessive emotional expression, unnecessary gestures, sweeping gesticulations, plus the constant cuts to the people who are currently speaking. Not to mention a funny attempt to prove the moral superiority of the Chinese crew members over everyone else with their constant self-sacrifice or impassioned speeches about how man is hurting nature. I have no reason not to think that the disjointed scene where the American millionaire, who had been behaving quite normally – helping characters in trouble etc. – now decides to kill all the characters with Semtex was an afterthought, imposed by the demands of the Chinese production company. Why did there have to be some helicopters exploding completely randomly? Because Chinese audiences like exploding helicopters. We might just as well ask why the actress Ruby Rose had her tattoos repainted in the makeup room into Chinese visuals. Could it perhaps be because tattooed crosses aren't exactly popular with the Chinese? The Warners are betting that audiences will adapt to whatever succeeds in China, for which they deserve no more than one star. A perfectly clean equation of the film and the product. (13/11/2018)

Jon Turteltaub serves up a solid shark spectacle for 130 million USD. I went to the cinema without expectations and left pleasantly surprised. Jason Statham is absolutely superb and pulls the whole film up, and the gorgeous Ruby Rose and the verbose black guy who provides the entertainment are also good. The budget really comes through and it's a pleasure to see the underwater world with all that goes with it, including the giant Megalodon, which is nicely cunning and sneaky. The film reminds me of a mix of Deep Blue Sea and Jaws, and for a PG-13 film it's very bloody in places (the scene with the whale with its guts sticking out on camera just had me gawking). The scares work, a few people jumped out of their seats nicely during the screening, and the director serves up some great suspense with Statham's life on the line several times. For me, perfect entertainment with nerve-wracking suspense. The scene with the helicopter is the highlight. 80%. (16/08/2018)

Jason Statham attempts to stop a giant prehistoric shark that scientists say should be long extinct but is still alive. And it's hungry. The Meg is an thoroughbred action B-movie, pulled forward by an excellent Statham and a big budget that Jon Turteltaub does some pretty wild things with. It's a shame, then, that by the end they softened up and the megalodon rampage has to do without blood. But it's still pretty entertaining crap. (09/08/2018)

I’m actually not all that surprise by Jason Statham being in this film. MEG is quite a quality b-rated movie, which looks stupid only in those moments when Jason doesn’t have a beer in his hand. Because when he does, he looks like the coolest guy under the sun, so I think he should’ve had one even while he was holding a fishing rod with the megalodon in his other hand. (01/11/2019)

A forgettable, average B-movie. It needed a director like Stephen Sommers or Joe Johnston, who would make such deliberately silly subject matter into a better spectacle. John Turtletaub is not very good.____P.S. The Czech subtitles by Kateřina Hámova are once again horrendous. No, “squid" really isn't “octopus," and there were plenty of other mistakes as well. (22/08/2018)