The Meg is a PG-13 romp through the genre of killer sharks. It has everything a modern summer blockbuster needs to be successful. Including a predictable script packed with thrills, suspense, minimal blood and perfectly generic cast. Heavily marketed to the Chinese cinema crowds, the setting is in China and features Chinese actors, select lines of dialogue in Chinese, and obligatory Chinese family values peppered throughout the near 2 hour run time.
Casting so PC it could be a human resources training video.
Thought you could just watch a movie about a killer mega-sized shark without some “diversity”? You’re wrong. The Meg has the vanilla casting that movie goers have come to accept over the past decade. Let’s see…. Funny black guy? Check. Adorable asian girl? Check. Sexually ambiguous angry lesbian rebel? Check. Evil rich white male? Check. Asian Bridezilla? Check. I’m sure we missed some in here, but you get the point. We, the ticket buying patron, get it too. Hollywood has to make sure every single ethnic group is represented in their films or risk the wrath of “outrage” on social media. The Meg is no different. Expect cookie cutter acting from cardboard characters, who say, think, and feel exactly as their generalized stereotype should.
A long run time sinks The Meg in middle
The Meg has a runtime of 1 hour and 52mins. The opening of the movie and beginning of the second act were actually pretty fun. There was genuine suspense and you get a fair introduction into the characters. However after about 90 minutes, I started looking at my watch in the movie theater. The PG-13 rating could have had something to do with this. The Meg has some scary moments, but even the shark attacks are all almost bloodless, and the remainder of the movie really keeps it in the “family friendly” realm. The is almost no bad language and even the scenes with sexy people at the beach come across nearly sterile. As the cast of The Meg struggles as how to cope with the homicidal fish, it starts to drag on, and on, and on… Opting to keep one to many plot lines juggled at once, the movie could have cut down it’s running time and kept the action and thrills coming at a faster pace.
The Meg is fun to watch
Despite a few of it’s flaws, The Meg is decent movie. You get exactly what you pay for, which is a generic cast coping with the after effects of opening Pandora’s Box. If you love the genre of underwater beasts that was popular in the 70’s-80’s, and can suspend the laws of physics that apparently don’t apply to the scuba scenes, you’ll enjoy The Meg. You might not love it, but you can have a fun time eating some overpriced popcorn with too much butter with your BAE.