So ... The Meg (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/?ref_=nv_sr_1) comic in with an IMDB rating of 5,7 and a Redeemer Rating of 5,5. This is one of those times where I feel like the general crowd of IMDB followers has basically gotten it right. This movie is a bit of a 50/50. It is on many levels reasonably entertaining dumb action. At times I do feel like this movie takes itself a bit too seriously and tries to explore real emotions that have no real place in a movie like this one. When a movie is dealing with a shark the size of a small house we don't really need to get engaged with characters on too deep of a level or anything like that. A movie like this just needs to be ridiculous and entertaining. And this one is just that about half of the time. 

The plot. Not that it really matters. Giant shark kills and eats. Some people die, some get injured and some survive to kill the shark .. or do they. #questionable ending, #sequel? Or I could give you the serious version. Super underwater rescuer guy “fails” to rescue some people and claims that a 70 foot shark attacked them. A, on the surface, colleague calls him crazy and has him removed from the job and basically excommunicates him. But the, suddenly, a job that only he can do comes along, saving some people under water .. and one of them happens to be his ex-wife .. all while he meets a new love interest in the shape of widowed woman with child .. all while it turns out he was right and 70 foot sharks exist .. all while more things happen. 

The movie. Where to begin with this movie. It is essentially a, completely and utterly, paint by numbers dumb action movie. But never funny. And I think that that was a big mistake. An action movie, particularly one like this one, needs some proper humor to fill up the empty space between the action sequences. Space that this movie tried, and did not succeed, to fill with an approximation of drama and story. Ok, let’s discuss what I meant with “paint by numbers” for those of you who don't understand. Movie begins with setting the scene, our protagonist is given a hurdle of some kind to overcome later in the movie. Our antagonist is slowly built up and we are made to believe that the only person who can be the hero is our protagonist. And then the unending can they, can’t they, can they, can’t they .. rollercoaster that these action movies use. And then finally .. success .. and then of course the questionable ending. And, to make sure that the asian, in particular Chinese, movie going audience is buying tickets most of the movie takes place there and the new love interest is asian. But this all basically boils down to this movie being utterly predictable. Now let’s move on with the rest of the movie. Jason Statham .. great action movie star .. as far as I am concerned .. really great and super entertaining. But, and this a ginormous but .. there needs to be fight scenes along with his smart ass comments. Look at Snatch, 100% smart ass .. and equally entertaining. The Transporter, 100% bad ass fight scenes .. bad ass movie. Crank, a good mix of both .. supremely fun to watch. This movie’s action scenes are entertaining, but there is no room for a cool round house kick when the antagonist is a huge CGI shark. The action is really just a lot of yelling in front of a green screen. The script of the movie does not do much to help in that category, and for me it did even less with creating a meaningful story. This movie makes some sort of half hearted attempt at making me connect with the characters that get killed off .. but it fails. And that is because that attempt is half hearted at best. In the end, all that we are left with here is an entertaining antagonist that looks really well animated and kills people in exceptionally entertaining ways. And that is all this movie has. 

The redeeming factor. The big shark was cool. That is really all that this movie does have going for it. I wish that the factor of this movie was Statham, but he was a shadow of himself in this movie .. thanks mostly to the script. And so the thing that this movie has .. is a big shark. Pretty cool.