If you’ve gotten your fill of other summer activities like going to the beach or checking out theme parks, come August, you might want to hit the movies. Just short of 2 weeks away from its theatrical release, The Meg is making waves as early reviews are saying the big screen face-off between Jason Statham and a prehistoric shark is exactly the fun summer blockbuster it promises to be.
The Meg kicks off when a research vessel off the coast of China is attacked by a 75-foot megalodon, a massive marine predator thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago. Turns out, it’s the same oversized super shark that led to the disgrace of Jason Statham’s Jonas Taylor after trying to warn his colleagues of its existence five years prior to the recent attack. Now, Jonas has to join forces with a team of scientists to face the shark again and put an end to its killing spree. A plot like that sounds like it’s not aiming to be anything but an awesome time and according to early reviews, it is.
Over the weekend critics were able to take to social media and tell the world what they thought and so far the consensus is that The Meg is tons of fun. Some are comparing it to an over-the-top version of already over-the-top movies like Jaws and the Jurassic World. One reviewer, Brandon Davis, described it as “the ridiculous love child of Jaws & Jurassic World and they let the Fast & Furious franchise raise it.”
#TheMeg is like the ridiculous love child of Jaws & Jurassic World and they let the Fast & Furious franchise raise it. It's fun, silly, self-aware, chaotic, and everything it's supposed to be. pic.twitter.com/QkEGrd0qXQ
— Brandon Davis (@BrandonDavisBD) July 28, 2018
Another fun fact: The Meg is based off a series of books. But don’t expect it to strictly stick with the source material.
Had a chance to see #TheMeg and I really enjoyed it! While it's not quite the same as the books (check those out too if you have the time, they're awesome), the movie works in it's own way. It's super fun, thrilling, and Jason Statham owns every action sequence.
— Wendy Lee Szany (@WendyLeeSzany) July 30, 2018
Other reviewers are pointing out that even though the movie’s premise is exactly what you’d expect from a straight-to-tv SyFy movie, it manages not to be too stupid. Twitter reviewer Conner Schwerdtfeger wrote, “It’s legitimately well-executed in its tension and action scenes and it 100% knows what type of movie it is without resorting to dumb Sharknado levels of stupidity.”
https://twitter.com/ConnerWS/status/1023205971290599424
Some reviewers even hinted that the super shark may have more of a motivation besides the blind pursuit of blood. Reviewer Chris Hayner wrote that The Meg, “featured a massive shark gaining justifiable revenge against dumb dumbs that invaded its home. I am forever pro-shark.”
https://twitter.com/ChrisHayner/status/1023056174281711616
The Meg hits theaters Friday, August 10th.
