The Meg

The Meg is a 2018 science fiction action film directed by Jon Turteltaub with a screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, loosely based on the 1997 book, Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, by Steve Alten. A sequel, titled Meg 2: The Trench, is in development.

Plot
Previously thought to be extinct, a massive creature attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific. With time running out, a visionary oceanographer recruits rescue diver Jonas Taylor to save the crew and the sea itself from an unimaginable threat -- a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon.

Why It's Great

 * 1) Unlike most shark films that try to copy Jaws or have just plain ridiculous writing (like Three-Headed Shark or Sharktopus), The Meg is actually a pretty good shark film that tries to do its own decent take on the protagonists facing a man-eating shark.
 * 2) Great acting, especially from Jason Statham and Winston Chao.
 * 3) The film has a few funny moments here and there, like when Morris is first introducing himself to Suyin and messes up when speaking in Chinese.
 * 4) The opening scene was heartbreaking as Jonas had to leave two of his men behind to die in order to save everybody else.
 * 5) The megaladon(s) that terrorizes and tries to eat the main characters is truly scary on its own.
 * 6) The idea of a research team trying to find life at the very bottom of the sea but end up encountering a megaladon is pretty original.
 * 7) Likable, relatable and interesting characters, such as Jonas, Suyin and Dr. Zhang.
 * 8) The film has an awesome soundtrack, such as Hey Mickey which is sung entirely in Thai.
 * 9) Each and everyone of the scenes is well-executed, like when a giant squid attacks Suyin only to get attacked and eaten by the shark or the badass ending scene where Jonas kills the megaladon.
 * 10) A nice and subtle reference to Dory’s famous “Just keep swimming.” line from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory.
 * 11) The chemistry between Jonas and Suyin is pretty decent and is not your usual clichéd romantic side-plot.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Horrible CGI on the megalodon.
 * 2) The dialogue is one of the worst parts of the movie. For example, "You might be a son of a bitch, but you sure are no coward."
 * 3) There’s a giant “WTF”-type of moment in the film that’s also a huge plot hole: The megaladon was seen swimming up very fast towards and about to attack a small dog named Pippin, but somehow Pippin has shown to survive later on.
 * 4) There’s a very noticeable error throughout the entire movie where the megaladon(s) change sizes between scenes and/or shots.
 * 5) The movie is an adaptation of the first book in name only.

Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 46% based on 293 reviews, with an average rating of 5.31/10.

Box Office
The Meg grossed $145.4 million in the United States and Canada, as well as $384.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $530.2 million, against a production budget between $130 million to $178 million.