This monster movie has everything a good monster movie needs: a fear factor, a credible threat and a decent twist. It is an animal seeking revenge and a human seeking survival story. This film is an entertaining ‘what if’ look at humanity’s chances against the predators that came before us and imagine for a moment what it would be like to not be at the top of the food chain.
There is a particular focus on the prehistoric shark’s teeth, which might be founded from the attempt to make a predator not usually hunting humans scary. They could have made the shark cleverer, given that it has lived so many years without being killed. Some use of the tail and other parts of the shark’s anatomy rather than just the teeth could have been more entertaining, but admittedly, the shark’s teeth in the glass of their marine base was a powerful shot.
If you take Jason Statham’s ‘American’ accent with a pinch of salt, then his performance as his typical action-man role is great. Sophia Cai shines in her role as the young daughter of the oceanographer on the underwater research facility, bringing many of the laughs throughout the film. There is no particular message or revelation about the human condition in this story, it is purely survival and killing the bad thing, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not an entertaining way to spend two hours.
‘The Meg’ is available to stream on Prime Video.
Pep Reviews 