THE MEG - Jason Statham Vs. Giant Prehistoric Shark - August 10th

[AndyDursin]

I remember reading this book back in the '90s -- in lieu of any future JAWS sequels, I'm onboard for it

However, the Chinese location switch was made to lure in foreign investors....sign of the times I suppose.

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/jason ... 201753698/

Jason Statham will star in the Warner Bros. shark action movie “Meg,” sources confirmed to Variety.

“National Treasure” director Jon Turteltaub is helming.

Dean Georgaris is writing the screenplay based on Steve Alten’s novel “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.”

Belle Avery will produce the pic through her banner Apelles Entertainment, and Colin Wilson is producing through Maeday Productions.

Gerald Molen, Wayne Wei Jiang and Randy Greenberg are exec producing. Gravity Pictures will co-produce and co-finance the movie and distribute it in China.

The book revolves around two men who band together to fight an ancient shark threatening the California coast. The Megaladon, considered one of the largest and most powerful predators in history, can reach a length of 60 feet.

This time around the shark will be terrorizing the coast of China rather than California — a change that helped in bringing on Gravity Pictures as a co-financier.

Originally set up at Disney in 1997, “Meg” fell into limbo after the studio was unable to get it into production before another shark pic, “Deep Blue Sea,” hit theaters.

Statham was most recently seen in Fox’s action comedy “Spy” and will reprise his role in “Fast 8.” He is repped by CAA, Current Entertainment and Bloom Hergott.

[DavidBanner]

Oh My God!
Someone remade the Roger Corman comedy classic "Up From the Depths"??????!!!!

[AndyDursin]

This looks deliriously good...

[KevinEK]

This looks dangerously like Up From The Depths...

[AndyDursin]

Nah there's more entertainment in these 2 minutes than there is in Up From The Depths (I made the mistake of buying Shout's limited-edition Blu-Ray release of that lol).

Looks like a good dumb end of summer release if it goes over the top. I was worried for the first minute of that ad though but the last minute (the "above the surface" stuff) looks sufficiently goofy.

[AndyDursin]

Good reviews! Nice. Going out to this tonight. Looks like if you want to see Statham taking on a giant shark, this does the trick.

[Monterey Jack]

Checking this out with my Dad on Saturday. I'm in the mood for a good, silly shark movie.

[AndyDursin]

My buddy got stuck in traffic coming home from Boston so we will see it Monday instead. Enjoy MJ!

[AndyDursin]

$4 million from Thursday night shows = big weekend ahead

[Monterey Jack]

6/10

Certainly no Sharknado, but no Jaws, either. It's a watchable slice of cinematic Velveeta, but you'll forget most of it by the time you hit the parking lot. Jason Statham is winningly terse as always, but the supporting cast is an absolute joke (including the obligatory "talkingamileaminute'cuzah'mSCARED!" black guy ). Eh, you can wait for Netflix on this one. I just saw it in theaters because my Dad wanted to see it, and I'll see pretty much anything he wants just to spend some time with him (he wasn't terribly enamored with it either). Theater was jammed with under-ten kids, too.

[AndyDursin]

Yeah I'm not sure now...but I do need to get out of the house!!

[Monterey Jack]

On reflection, I'd knock it down to 5/10. More like The Meh'g. A few cheap scares, one legit tense scene (with Statham rescuing the fetching Li Bingbing from a plastic shark cage), a few funny visual images (like a guy in one of those giant, inflatable water bubbles frantically "running" away from the shark), and some SERIOUSLY lame dialogue. I mean, if you just want to enjoy the air conditioning, this is a painless enough sit, but it's totally forgettable and makes The Shallows seem like a masterpiece (at least that had Blake Lively in a bikini ).

Plus, it's pretty lame it sets up a giant, crazy Piranha 3D-style bloodbath at the climax, and totally doesn't deliver because of the weak PG-13 rating.

[AndyDursin]

Fairly interesting Deadline article on how Warner successfully sold this film.

For all the hemming and hawing from gorehounds, simple fact is this: make a standard Statham action film (or sell it as such), and this opening is cut in half. No doubt about it.

Warner did a superb job marketing the movie and opening up the audience by playing up the lighter elements.

https://deadline.com/2018/08/the-meg-bo ... 202444293/

[AndyDursin]

I enjoyed the movie "just fine" -- 7/10.

Obviously it's nothing spectacular, but it provided some enjoyable, end-of-summer brainless fun with a tub of popcorn (and an OK excuse to get out of the house). I thought the characters were actually pretty well developed, Statham was very relaxed and seemed to be having a good time, and Li Bingbing was very easy on the eyes. Rainn Wilson was probably too funny -- I think we were supposed to dislike the character more than we did, but he actually came off as likeable and sympathetic, which I'm not sure was the intent.

As far as the rating or body count goes, I am surprised anyone expected a "bloodbath" at the conclusion. This was obviously designed as a lightweight, family-friendly movie as much as the genre allows -- there's no profanity of any kind, there are cute kids in the film, the dog survives at the finish line -- so that baffles me. Nothing about the movie gave off an indication it was going to do anything but present the kind of PG-13 experience that it did.

I'm sure it will drop a bit this weekend, but it fulfilled what modest expectations I had. It wasn't ridiculously campy either, it was actually pretty competent, and was more of a middle-of-the-road monster movie accessible for kids. I'm sure that may have disappointed some, but it was a pretty smart tactic on the filmmakers' part and wasn't bad -- especially by today's standards.