The Past Comes Back To Take A Bite Out Of The Present In The Meg

Good day my friends! Hope you are all doing well! Right now we are half way through August! And in a few weeks I will be another year older as my birthday approaches. Man where did the years go? That is what I often think! But I also know that we can't live in the past or that we will miss out on all the great opportunities that come our way right here in the present. But sometimes it fun to look back and remember. Not on the things we would do different! That though is a discussion for another time! No! What I mean is to look back at where we came from and all the wonders that we saw getting older. The moments in history that we were witness to, the technological wonders that were new at the time, the scientific discoveries and the things that have faded into obscurity as we have progressed. If there was one thing from the past I could bring back it would be the good ole video store. It was so much fun to go on a Friday or Saturday to go and rent the latest releases. Kids nowadays will never know that feeling in the era of downloading and Netflix and numerous other streaming sites. But I have heard that there is still one Blockbuster Video store left open in the USA. So as long as there is one the almost extinct creature of the video store still clings to life. That being said it having gone to the theatre this past summer it was nice to see more people in the theatre and from what I heard the box office numbers are up compared to last year at this time! August has been always known as a slow month for movies with a few surprises every so often! This week I take a look at the action/sci-fi movie The Meg which stars Jason Statham( The Expendables) as Jonas Taylor. Lets find out if The Meg has enough bite to get a good rating and not go extinct from a bad review!

Five years ago, expert sea diver Captain Jonas Taylor as master a deep sea rescues encounters an unknown danger while rescuing crew from a crippled nuclear submarine at in the unexplored recesses of the Mariana Trench. Having to make a decision to save the lives of many over some of his crew still trapped on the sub he makes the hard decision to close the hatch on the rescue sub and detach as the crippled sub implodes killing the crew he left behind. The incident earned him a dishonourable discharge and his career, his marriage and any credibility he had as he claims the sub was attacked by a mammoth sea creature living at the bottom of the ocean. Fast forward to now to the Mana Oceanic Research station, a state of the art scientific facility in the Pacific Ocean. They are about to show their billionaire backer what his money was spent on in building the massive underwater lab, their goal is to prove a theory that the Mariana Trench goes deeper than they originally thought. That what was thought to be the bottom is actually a thick thermal layer of mist that lead to another layer of the ocean. A whole new world below with undiscovered species living there. As the research teams sub proves that the theory correct, their sub is attacked by a large creature crippling it on the bottom of the ocean with 3 people trapped. One of them being Jonas's ex-wife Lori. As Jonas is the only one to have ever successfully rescued at ocean depth level, he gets the call. With time running out Jonas rushes to the bottom of the ocean and save the lives trapped below as well as confronting his own fears. Down in the farthest depths of the ocean he rescues some of the injured crew including his ex-wife. But also discovers that he was right years ago about a massive sea creature as he see's the creature that attacked his ex-wife's sub as the Carcharodon Megalodon, the largest marine predator that ever existed. It has survived below the thermal mist for all this time. As Jonas and the rescued crew escape the Megalodon attacks the crippled sub once again causing it to explode and create a break in the thermal mist allowing it to escape up to the surface. Up on the surface the prehistoric creature is wreaking havoc and reclaiming the ocean it once ruled. With the threat of the Megalodon killing anyone that enters the its waters and disrupting the modern ecosystem. Jonas and the crew of the Mana research station must race against time to stop the massive killing machine.

Now I know what you are thinking? That this sounds like a super cheesy summer monster movie. Well in a way you are right! But not totally! You see this movie was not as bad as most of my fellow critics made it out to be! If it wasn't than why are people going to it still. For me I found that this movie had a decent story with a nice build up to the climax of the film. The action and special effects were good and I have to admit I do enjoy a good ole creature feature. I mean come on! It was Jason Statham vs a giant prehistoric shark. It was way better than Sharknado and its sequels and the Piranha remake years ago. It wasn't gory like Piranha, but not quite like Jaws. The acting was what you would get in a movie of this calibre, which would be middle of the road with the usual characters you would see in a movie like this. But I did find the characters somewhat cookie cutter, they still were well created. There could have been some stronger performances here in this movie, but in this type of movie the acting is what I expected. And in this movie the dialogue was good and what made these characters so much better. All in all I was going in expecting a really horrible cheesy human vs. shark  movie film. What i got still was some of that but also a bit more of a story and some enjoyable action. It could have been a little better but I still enjoyed it! That's why I am giving The Meg a 6.6 on The Justin Scale Of Movies and am going to put it on my Pick-It List of movies to see in the theatres especially if you are in the mood for some good old mindless creature features! Well that's a wrap here for this latest review my friends. I will be back next week with another review. But until than remember to go out and check a movie at the theatre's to support the hard working people behind the scenes making these movies for us all. And don't forget to save me a good seat and keep that popcorn freshly popped because I will be seeing you again at the movies.