Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
After escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor must confront his fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible.
Director:
Jon Turteltaub
Writers:
Dean Georgaris (screenplay by), Jon Hoeber (screenplay by)
Stars:
Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson
The Meg is a 2018 science fiction thriller 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. The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis, and follows a group of scientists who encounter a 75-foot-long (23 m) megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
The Walt Disney Studios originally purchased the film rights to the book in the 1990s, but after several years in development hell, the rights landed at Warner Bros. The film was eventually greenlit in 2015. Turteltaub and much of the cast joined by September 2016, and filming began the following month in New Zealand and ended in Sanya City of China in January 2017.
A Chinese-American co-production, The Meg was released in both countries on August 10, 2018, in RealD 3D. It has grossed over $416 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with some describing it as an entertaining B-movie and others calling it "neither good enough nor bad enough" to be fun.
Plot
Jonas Taylor, a rescue diver, attempts to save a group of scientists trapped inside a nuclear submarine. As Taylor and Jordan Martin-Mackay are rescuing the last survivor, he sees the hull of the submarine being rammed in by an unknown creature. When he returns to the rescue vessel, two scientists are stuck in the damaged submarine. Taylor decides to leave, realizing that finishing the rescue would result in everyone perishing. The damaged sub then explodes. Taylor's account of the story stating that a giant sea creature caused the disaster was dismissed by Dr. Heller, believing that Taylor was affected with pressure-induced psychosis.
Five years later, billionaire Jack Morris meets Dr. Minway Zhang at the underwater research facility "Mana One", which Morris finances. Zhang and his daughter, Suyin, an oceanographer, are supervising a mission to explore what may be a deeper section of the Marianas trench, concealed by a thermocline cloud of hydrogen sulfide. The mission is being conducted by Lori (Taylor’s ex-wife), Toshi, and The Wall in a submersible. The mission appears to be going well until a very large creature hits the submersible, causing it to lose contact with Mana One.
James "Mac" Mackreides, another crew member at the station, suggests sending Taylor down to attempt a rescue, citing the similarity to his story. Despite Heller's objections, Zhang and Mac decide to travel to Thailand to recruit Taylor anyway. Suyin attempts the rescue herself, but a colossal squid intervenes. Before it can kill her, a massive shark kills it. Agreeing to help, Taylor reaches the trapped submersible, saving Lori and The Wall. However, when the giant shark returns, Toshi sacrifices himself by closing the hatch door and detaching the rescue vessel, allowing Taylor, Lori, and The Wall to escape safely while he diverts the shark's attention to his sub, causing it to be driven into a thermal vent, causing an explosion.
Back at Mana One, the crew discovers that the shark is a megalodon, the largest shark ever known, believed to be extinct for millions of years. The crew also realize that it has escaped from the depths of the trench by swimming through a hole in the thermocline created by the thermal vent explosion, briefly raising the temperature enough for it to safely pass. The group decides to track and poison the megalodon, which they succeed in doing. While injecting the megalodon with etorphine, Suyin's oxygen mask gets compromised, but Taylor revives her with CPR. Despite initial success, Taylor comments that the teeth don’t match up with the previous attack. Shortly after, a colossal megalodon emerges from the water and kills The Wall, Heller, and Dr. Zhang, capsizing the boat and devours the smaller megalodon. The surviving crew returns to Mana One in two dinghies. Morris announces that he has informed local governments and naval forces, but it is out of their hands.
At nightfall, Morris attempts to destroy the megalodon himself by ordering a helicopter crew to drop modified depth charges at it, citing that the creature's actions could result in lawsuits. He approaches the carcass of the supposed megalodon in a boat but discovers it's a whale. When the megalodon approaches, the boat accelerates, causing Morris to fall overboard and be eaten by the megalodon. Taylor and the remaining Mana One crew discover Morris’ deception and resolve to track and kill the shark, only to realize that it is en route to a crowded beach on the Sanya Bay.
The megalodon kills several beachgoers before the Mana One crew plays audio of a whale call to divert the shark's attention towards them. Taylor and Suyin attempt to destroy the megalodon with rigged torpedoes, to no avail, and in the process, Taylor's submersible is severely damaged. Taylor manages to cut the megalodon with parts of his sub and stab it in the eye with a harpoon. Due to the presence of blood, multiple sharks in the area notice the blood and devour the megalodon, killing it. During the fight, Suyin was able to evacuate everyone to a boat where a Chinese couple is getting married. Taylor gets on the boat, and he and Suyin consider taking a vacation.
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