While this film is very enjoyable; unfortunately, The Meg (2018) is a throwaway summer blockbuster and mediocre at best. The film's lack of character development, along with less than stellar performances by the majority of the cast, ultimately hindered my ability to feel any remorse or sympathy for certain characters, nor did I develop any emotional connection with characters. Not all is grim; luckily, the film's lead, Jason Statham, delivered a very pleasant performance. Statham carried the film from the opening scene, all the way through until the end credits. Statham was a charismatic badass and stole every scene in which he was physically present, and without him, the film would have failed. And besides Shuya Sophia Cai's adorable Meiying, this is where the praise for performances end. Li Bingbing's addition was an obvious attempt to appeal to the foreign audience, and the rest of the supporting cast gave forgettable performances. It was plainly obvious certain characters were written for the sole purpose of having an action scene transpire by making costly decisions or for plot convenience. From a technical standpoint, The Meg (2018) was a fest for the eyes; the CGI and special effects were very crisp and believable, except for a shot near the end of the film involving the meg itself and Statum. The sound design was great, as it really brought the extinct titanic meg to life. The final positive of the film was it's consistent pacing; there were small amounts of the extended expedition, which ultimatly hurt the film's character development, and plenty of intense shark action. In conclusion, The Meg is nothing more of a shallow plot strung together with cool shark action scenes and unnecessary, poorly written characters. I would not recommend this film, especially after considering the fact that other, more enjoyable summer films, such as Mission Impossible: Fallout or even the lighthearted Teen Titans Go to the Movies, are other options for a trip to the movies.
