for wetter or worse, the meg is one of this summer’s most anticipated movies. warner bros. marketed it as a shameless popcorn flick, and poked fun at itself at every promotional opportunity. the tagline easily could’ve been “#notadocumentary.” and, frankly, considering this is a story about an ocean science station owned by billionaire rainn wilson that accidentally unleashes a prehistoric shark only the transporter can vanquish, leaning into the silliness was 100 percent the right call.

that said, the potential for failure looms large over any big-budget feature, regardless of how cleverly studios try and manage expectations. despite how much it warned that it was going to be ridiculous, the meg still needed a decent amount of substance to compensate for the fact that the main attraction (v. big shark) had already been spoiled by trailers and posters. that’s an uphill battle for sure, but at the end of the day, there’s more to enjoy in this movie than there is to malign.

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its most impressive victory is that, despite splashing the monster all over its advertising, the meg still mines some good thrills out of the star creature. seventy-five percent of the film features action vets jason statham and li bingbing miraculously -- yet, weirdly believably? -- out-maneuvering, outrunning and out-thinking the megalodon using whatever harpoons, poisons, unbreakable shark cages or cutting-edge mini-subs are at their disposal. and while the movie doesn’t spend a ton of time building suspense around the creature, it does use the first 30 minutes to make sure we know exactly what this thing can do and how afraid of it we should be. fear is instilled in us, however bluntly, and that plus excellent special effects make sure you’ll jump and yell more than you want to admit. also, the film sneakily includes a pretty decent twist in the first half that proves it has more to offer on the monster front than what the marketing presented.

and while no one is seeing this movie for command performances, it’s worth noting the humans are more than serviceable. statham plays retired diver jonas taylor and rides the sweet spot between action star and self-parody that had him eclipsing melissa mccarthy in spy. he delivers arguably the biggest laugh of the movie when he paddles toward the beast to try and shoot it with a tracker while humming, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

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the meg

li bingbing’s suyin, a marine biologist, the daughter of the station’s operator and a single mom, could’ve easily fallen into one of any number of femme sidekick stereotypes. but she’s the star of this movie just as much as statham is, and her character achieves person first, lady second status that evades so many female action stars. also, her romance with jonas is blessedly underplayed – it’s there, but dialogue is not quite this movie's strong point, so you’re glad their extremely stilted flirting is limited. thankfully, the meg is good at knowing when to show that kind of restraint when it needs to, because it does need to.

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while there are more genuinely exciting moments than you’d expect from an up-jumped b-movie, it’s still an up-jumped b-movie. the dialogue gets pretty cringe-worthy, and most of the sentimentality feels uncomfortable and cloying because we’ve spent more time getting to know the shark than we have anyone who dies or, like, has an emotion. as villains go, rainn wilson’s morris doesn’t get as mustache-twirling as we know he’s capable of, so his casting turns out to be an unexpected letdown. and finally, in another twist, once the initial thrill wears off, the monster itself doesn’t feel as big as it should. even though we watch it swamp a large boat and bite a whale in half, anyone who’s watched game of thrones has seen bigger, better-rendered creatures unleash more large-scale damage. once the monster itself isn’t as imposing, the film loses a lot of its steam and the final third is a bit of a snooze (until the very end, when statham pulls off a legitimately applause-worthy checkmate against the monster).

despite those flaws, the meg is way more fun than it has any right to be, and that comes down to pacing. it moves at a breakneck speed that doesn’t allow for any time wasted on things like sentimentality or cogent science, which aren’t its strong points anyway. it sets up a few clapboard relationships and gets right to the business at hand – v. big shark fights. as an added bonus, in structuring itself that way the meg deftly sidesteps potential jaws comparisons. the first half of that film demonizes the great white as a stalking, malevolent force almost akin to serial killer. this monster isn’t nearly as nearly as much of a villain as it is a force of nature humans stupidly set upon themselves. that keeps things lighthearted and makes what scares emerge from it all the more appreciable. it’s not the cleanest path to success, but it works more than it doesn’t. and honestly, if your expectations are higher than that, you should adjust them or wait until you don’t have to pay for it.


opening friday nationwide, director jon turteltaub's the meg stars jason statham, li bingbing, masi oka, cliff curtis, page kennedy, ruby rose, winston chao and rainn wilson.