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davidahallnum5
Aug 4, 20238 min read

The Meg 3D Blu-ray Review

MOVIE REVIEW

The Meg is a 2018 action adventure film about a giant Megalodon shark. When group of scientists who head down to an undiscovered area underneath the Mariana Trench get attacked by a strange creature, a man named Jonas Taylor is called upon to perform a rescue mission. While the mission becomes a success, little do they know that by going back and forth across a strong ice cold barrier at the bottom of the ocean, they've unleashed an enormous prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon onto the sea above. Now, it's up to Jonas and a group of scientists to find and kill this unstoppable, hungry beast.

Judging by the synopsis and the film's trailers, The Meg appears to be a cheesy romp with plenty of bloody shark action to appease its audience looking for dumb fun. It's the type of film that doesn't need to focus on being objectively good, but rather providing a good time. On that front, The Meg does deliver, sometimes. But it falters for two main reasons: 1. The inconsistent tone and 2. the overly convoluted story. While both of those elements are never atrocious by any means, they, to some degree, hold back what should've been a simple breezy trip to the sea.

You might be wondering how a shark film could be convoluted when all it needs is a shark and a three act structure. Well, that's because The Meg's plot is kinda all over the place. 20 minutes in, everything seems kinda straightforward: submarine goes underwater, submarine gets attacked by shark, guy goes in to rescue people in submarine, he brings (most) everyone out safely. However, that whole shtick is over within 45 minutes. From here, the story takes a bit of an episodic nature during the "capturing the shark" plot line of the movie. They throw in quite a few twists and turns to the story which are clearly meant to create jump-scares and allow for some decent shark action. But from a story standpoint, they drag out the film longer than it needs to and even hinder its flow.

And from a tonal standpoint, The Meg also feels a little confused, though it's not entirely a mess. From the start of the film, things look promising and the story seems to set up a thrilling action adventure along the lines of Skyscraper and Kong: Skull Island. But shortly around the end of the rescue mission, the film decides to take itself seriously and set up what's supposed to be an emotional story arc for our main character, which considering the campy nature the plot that came before it, feels quite jarring. And they also try to build on it later during the shark plot-line. Thankfully, things do come together in the end. But it makes the film overall more difficult to truly enjoy than it needs to be.

That's not to say the film is all bad, though. The first 30 minutes of the film are genuinely pretty well handled. And even through the rest of the film, there's still some scattered fun moments that make the movie well worth seeing. When the Megalodon comes up, there's all the classic chaotic and over-the-top action you'd expect. The jump-scares do sometimes catch you off guard, and the sight of Jason Statham fighting a giant aquatic beast is, of course, something to find joy in.

I still had a pretty good time with The Meg for the most part, in spite of its flaws. It's just that in-between the scenes of bloody shark attacks and over-the-top destruction, the rest of the story is needlessly trying to accomplish more than its scope will allow. It's not that there's nothing to the emotional arc the film sets up. But when you're invited ahead of time not to take anything too seriously, it's a little difficult to invest in the characters when the story asks you to. I didn't come into The Meg expecting great cinema or anything. I just wish all there was to it was its campy tone, Jason Statham, and the giant shark, because that's really all it needed. Still, when it needed to deliver that, it did deliver that. And maybe for some, that'll be enough. For others, though, myself included, the extra stuff sink it down to the zone where most other "once and done" movies go. It's not by any means a slog or bore, but it might not fully be the fun cheesy romp you were expecting.


OVERALL FILM RATING: 3/5


3D REVIEW

The relationship between 3D and water movies needs no explanation. Virtually any film set in the ocean is immediately a shoe-in to be a 3D tour de force. Sometimes they work in subtle ways like with the Jaws 3D re-release or those IMAX documentaries, or they can be fun like with The Little Mermaid (1989) and Aquaman. The Meg falls somewhere in-between those two categories. But unlike the film itself where the lack of consistency in tone hurts it, the 3D does a great job of remaining entertaining and stunning throughout no matter what scene you're in.

Even in the indoor shots, there's plenty to take in. In simple places like an elevator or a board room meeting, the depth and dimensional is lifelike and immersive. But of course, the 3D shines in the more surreal locations such as in glass underwater tunnels that are shaped like cylinders and tight submarines, which give off similar claustrophobic shots to James Cameron's Deepsea Challenge. There are some pretty fun shots from the inside of a submarine cockpit with the room being surrounding by monitors that record the sea life right outside the vessel. And in mission control, the surrounding equipment and monitors make for some good 3D choreography. The oil rig the scientists work off of gives off even better 3D choreography with everything from fences to handrails to narrow pathways to heights.

It's in the ocean scenes, though, where the 3D takes center stage. Underwater, we get some very mesmerizing views of fish, algae, foliage, coral, lights, submarines, plankton, a giant squid, ink, and of course, the Megalodon himself. And that's just to name the basics of what's in the frame. The compositions of the shots that make the 3D worth your money are too great in number to describe. But I'll do my best to give you the highlights. The earliest highlight we get is when the studio logos are going on. It's a scene similar to Aquaman. Down in the Mariana Trench, the sub starts dispensing lights that fall to the bottom of the sea along different places on the z-axis and lighting up parts of the ocean that used to be dark. The first time we see the Megalodon, it charges at the sub in almost complete darkness. Whatever detail we can make out certainly brings terror to the audience. There are quite a few scenes that take place in dark or dimly lit areas. But surprisingly, the detail throughout these scenes remain fully intact. There's one standout moment when a woman's clear sub vessel gets attacked by a squid. But then it runs away squirting ink. It's here when we see the Megalodon fully lit on-screen for the first time as he passes the glass vessel. The shark shows up again to terrorize a young girl inside the glass cylinder hallway we mentioned earlier and bites down on the glass. In 3D space, his lunge at the glass feels an extra dimension more freaky.

In the lighter areas, aka, more around the surface of the ocean, things still look amazing. The best way I can describe these scenes are somewhere in between Jaws (1975) and In the Heart of the Sea. On a surface level (no pun intended), the surface of the water goes far back into the screen and even comes out of it when a character is in the water. We get pieces of debris on the water, boats going far into the screen, the shark heading straight for the audience, and chase scenes moving so fast they're reminiscent of the whaling scene in In the Heart of the Sea. There's also some neat 3D composition involving a plastic cage and some chum. There's some sharks swimming with the intent to eat other creatures, a dead whale floating on the surface of the ocean, the Megalodon's fin protruding the surface as it heads towards our main characters, and SPOILER ALERT a dead Megalodon sitting on the deck of a boat being suspended by wires. END SPOILERS. Oh, did I mention wires that move back and forth into the frame? There's a part where a boat gets tipped over a people fall off. The climax at the beach has large crowds of people going deep into the frame. And we get shots of them from above and under the water. This scene is also especially interesting as when the Meg is passing through the crowds of people, we can tell the distance in between him and the surface of the water. Later, he accidentally catches a chain which drags a floating platform with people on it through the water. There's some scattered instances of spraying blood and chase sequences involving small underwater vessels. And through all these scenes the 3D really helps to give an idea how big of a creature the shark really is.

As for screen protrusions, The Meg is almost constant with them, though many of them are of the more subtle kind such as with people's hands, heads, and piece of the surrounding environment. That's not to discredit them by any means as they help make the film more immersive. Most all the underwater elements mentioned above that go deep into the screen also come out of it. Plankton, fish, chum, bubbles, lights, subs, and even the Meg itself all leave the screen in one way or another. But even then, the film still makes way for some fun pop outs. There's water splashes, lunges at the screen with the Meg, spears, water from a shower head, a flinch worthy moment with a cork from a water-walking ball, and a shot where The Meg jumps out of the ocean. I'm sure there's more to mention here, but these are all the examples I get off the top of my head.

The Meg was a heck of a lot of fun in 3D. Even when it's not delving in over-the-top shark action, it provides some very neat shots of the ocean that stand up there with the 3D greats. But when it is delving in over-the-top shark action, boy does that extra dimension make it all the more fun. Through and through, this a fantastic 3D conversion and one that I say any fan of 3D ought to treat themselves to. How could I rate it anything less than "excellent"?


3D RATING: EXCELLENT


OTHER SOURCES THAT REVIEW THIS MOVIE'S 3D:







FINAL THOUGHTS


The Meg may not be the best shark movie ever, and it may not even be the most fun. But it does have its moments of mayhem and shark action that people come in wanting. If you can get pass the film's tonal issues and chaotic plot, it can deliver some good fun. And of course, 3D is absolutely the way to go with this film. Heck, this film is probably worth watching just for the 3D alone. It's that good. I could spend all day describing the ways this film uses 3D to its advantage. But in the end, it would all be in vain if you don't see it for yourself. Purchase it in 3D, watch it, and enjoy it.



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