The MEG (2018)

[Kainz]

IT'S HAPPENING!
I've been waiting years for this to arrive as I've long been a massive fan of Steve Alten's books as well as being fascinated by deep sea exploration since I was a child.

The story is about Carcharodon Megalodon - the bigger, older cousin of the Great White, which was pretty much THE apex predator of the it's era. The books tell us of a 'Meg' that is discovered whilst exploring Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. Through various circumstances, the big beastie arises from the depths and terrorises everything with a heartbeat. This thing was some 70ft long and weighed in at 60,000lbs.

Looking at the cast, they've mostly retained key characters so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

 

[Kainz]

Yeah, wasn't the best of trailers but at least we got a glimpse of the Meg. Hopefully it won't be some sad comedy affair that doesn't take itself too seriously.

 

[Kainz]

Greig Beck's Fathomless is worth a read if you enjoyed that. Not read Steve Alten (just added to my reading list) but the two books sound very similar!!

Edit: For some reason you can only pre-order Fathomless on Amazon - it was published in 2016!!

Thank you for the heads up mate. That book had turned up on my kindle recommended list quite a few times but I'd ignored it. It definitely does sound very familiar! I've added it to my wish list now until I finish reading The Black by Paul E. Cooley. I'm not too happy that Steve Alten has decided to make his latest Meg book only available from his US website - He's got no chance selling it that way.

 

[Kainz]

I am really interested in which of the books the movie follows because if it is the first book, then the ending in the film will be very comical and OTT. I suppose it does cover the back story of Jonas Taylor (Stathams character) and his previous Navy career, that previously took him to the Mariana Trench though. The first book has two Megs, a male and a female. The latter of which eventually gives birth to Angel - the star of the second book. I hope BFI Imax are showing this!

Also Bingaling ling = hawt

 

[Kainz]

Yessss! My wife and I are off to BFI Imax today to watch this er beast of a flick. It hasn't received the best of reviews from the few I've seen online but if I'm watching this, it'll be on a huge screen regardless!

 

[Kainz]

Anyone thinking this would be a comedic mess like I did couldn't be more wrong. It actually kept a serious tone though most of the film with the one stereotype character trying to lighten the mood. LL Cool J he ain't.

I actually enjoyed it and whilst I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, it was indeed better than I expected. The 3D effects on the big screen were really impressive for the first half of the film before it subsided midway.

For fans of the book, don't even consider the film to be close. It is very watchable though and has most of the characters from the book.

Jason does a commendable job in not punching the Megalodon and the rest of the cast hold the film together well enough.

7.8/10

Edit: wtf, Battleship was superb and hugely enjoyable.

 

[Kainz]

Do they ever need a bigger boat?

Oh yes. Those immortal words are never mentioned though!

 

[Kainz]

Enjoyable nonsense with a cute, but not annoying, kid and a hot female lead.

Completely correct! Kid was super adorable and the momma was even hot in one of the latter Transformer flicks.

 

[Kainz]

I was thinking it may be worth a watch given your review, but then read the last bit. I thought Battleship was cringeworthy garbage!

Lol I really enjoyed it even though it was had a lot of stale moments in it. Then again I was a big fan of the 'board' game and as a kid always imagined it being turned into a film one day. Need Battleship 2!

Seriously though, if you can get tickets on the cheap then why not? It isn't a bad film, but isn't a great one either - more of an enjoyable popcorn flick.