Jaws is the best shark movie ever made, and nothing will ever change that. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster is the perfect blend of action, suspense, and horror. It’s also one of the most important films in the history of cinema that forever changed the movie business. Because of that, it is literally impossible for some other shark movie to ever top it. Even making the attempt is a mistake. That is why all of the best shark movies out there try to do something different — like have Jason Statham face down a 75-foot prehistoric monster — which is the case in 2018’s immensely fun The Meg.
This action-thriller directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) stars Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor, an incredibly proficient rescue diver. At the beginning of the movie, Jonas is living in isolation after a mission gone wrong, but when he finds out that his ex-wife is stuck in an underwater lab in the Mariana Trench — the deepest underwater area in the world — he comes out of retirement to save her. He succeeds, but the rescue releases a megalodon, a giant species of shark thought to be extinct, into the open ocean. Now, Jonas and the crew of the Mana One research facility must hunt down the killer creature.
Unlike more serious shark movies that sometimes try and compete with Jaws by making the shark more deadly or scarier than Spielberg’s depiction, The Meg works so well because it embraces the over-the-top ridiculousness of its core gimmick. The shark itself is 75 feet long — roughly three times the size of the great white from Jaws. But rather than trying to one-up (or three-up?) the inimitable intensity of Jaws, The Meg tries to capture the same thrill of a fun roller coaster ride. The shark claims a cartoonish number of victims while Jason Statham and the Mana One crew try method after method to take down the behemoth. In a way, The Meg plays almost like a slight parody of Jaws rather than a competitor. It’s ridiculous but takes itself seriously enough that it doesn’t feel as gonzo as something like Sharknado.
(I know some people dig the Sharknado movies, but they’re just too cheesy for me, whereas The Meg plays more like a light action movie.)
It helps that The Meg stars Jason Statham, who not only has the action movie chops for this kind of role, but he is also an adept comedic actor too. Some of Statham’s earliest movies were the Guy Ritchie action comedies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. While he’s not as funny in The Meg as he is in those movies, he does seem to be playing a heightened version of his action movie persona. Statham often plays intense, steely-eyed dudes who drive fast and punch hard, but in The Meg, Statham holds those stares just a second longer than usual, and his character is even more unflappable. It’s an incredibly subtle difference, but it’s as though Jason Statham has an internal dial for how much “Stathamocity” a movie needs. Here, he knew — or at least Turteltaub did — that Statham needed to crank it slightly up to match the over-the-top tone.
Statham knew exactly what he was doing, and he’s often referred to The Meg as a fun popcorn movie, which is precisely what it is. It’s a casual watch that’s relentlessly fun. And if you watch it and find yourself wanting more — which you very likely will — the sequel to The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench, is also on HBO Max. If you think The Meg plays like an outrageous take on Jaws, then know that Meg 2 plays like an even more outrageous take on The Meg. There are more megalodons and more death and even more Stathamocity. They’re a perfect pair of movies for weekend double features that won’t make you think too much.
The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench are available to stream on HBO Max.