✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper plus a pair of free tickets to a London event sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • About us
  • Tickets
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Tickets
Get our exclusive content
+ choose a pair of free tickets from our edit of favourite events
Cinema

The Meg film review ★★★★★

10 Aug 18 – 10 Aug 19, TIMES VARY

Jason Statham takes on a suitably 12A shark in The Meg, a modern, bonkers B-movie that's not as fun as it needs to be

By CW Contributor on 9/8/2018

1 CW reader is interested
Statham being Statham saves the film from drowning in tedium
Statham being Statham saves the film from drowning in tedium
The Meg film review 2 The Meg film review Ella Kemp
Hold your breath, The Meg has arrived. Yes, the modern B-movie advertised for months as a bad but fun experience with Jason Statham fighting a massive prehistoric shark is finally hitting cinemas. Statham plays expert sea-diver Jonas Taylor who explores the untouched depths of the Pacific Ocean, specifically the Mariana Trench, which is home to an abundance of ocean life.


After losing half his team in a disastrous dive, Jonas refuses to go back into the water – convinced a large and dangerous creature, the merciless Megalodon shark, is lurking down there. When a second team dive down and get stuck, Jonas comes out of retirement to save them, but ends up releasing the Megalodon from its sealed ecosystem. The Meg rises to the surface.


For a film that’s marketed on how much fun you’ll have, The Meg doesn’t offer many reasons to be excited or surprised. There’s the textbook capitalist arsehole, played by Rainn Wilson (horrendously cast), who wants to catch and kill the Meg for profit; you’ve got the idea of tracking the shark, in a modernised version of the barrel-system in Jaws; and the Meg, of course, visits a beach bursting with avid splashers. It’s a predictable turn of events, made all the more disappointing by the Meg’s lukewarm sense of havoc. The shark isn’t scary, which may be the fault of a 12A rating – permitting only pale glimpses of violence. Sure, swimmers are pulled into its mouth, but that’s no scarier than a kid’s cartoon.


There are funny moments, mostly in the dialogue (which feels intentionally terrible), and Statham being Statham saves the film from drowning in tedium. But it’s a mindless, over-budgeted, bonkers action movie that’s nowhere near as fun as it pretends to be.



by Euan Franklin

What The Meg film review
When 10 Aug 18 – 10 Aug 19, TIMES VARY
Price £ determined by cinemas
Website Click here for more information

You might also like
Free for Members
Up to £48
London Comedy Carnival, Leicester Square
All booked
21 Feb 19 - 28 Feb 19

London Comedy Carnival

See all tickets

Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 22 – 24 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 22 – 24 February
Best art exhibitions, London, 2019
Best art exhibitions, London, 2019
Debut at the National Theatre: Cate Blanchett stars in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other
When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, National Theatre review

Editor's Picks

Felicity Jones in On the Basis of Sex
The best films out now
New to UK Netflix: August 2018
New to UK Netflix: August 2018
The best fashion documentaries
The best fashion documentaries
1

Cinema

Action

Jason Statham

You might like

  • Forrest Goodluck, Chloë Grace Moretz and Sasha Lane in The Miseducation of Cameron Post

    The Miseducation of Cameron Post film review ★★★★★

  • Gemma Arterton in the Escape

    The Escape film review ★★★★★

  • John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan as Laurel & Hardy

    Stan & Ollie gets new trailer ahead of world premiere at London Film Festival

  • Mission: Impossible — Fallout film review

    Mission: Impossible — Fallout film review ★★★★★

  • Hotel Artemis film review

    Hotel Artemis film review ★★★★★

  • Incredibles 2 film review

    The Incredibles 2 film review ★★★★★

  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY
TO CONTINUE TO ENJOY CULTURE WHISPER

You’ve clicked to view the best of our content that we
save exclusively for our members.

If you liked what you saw, subscribe from just £15 and get
unlimited access to our unique culture service as well as
all of our membership benefits.

BECOME A MEMBER ×

Want a pair of free tickets every month?
Upgrade to Gold Whisper now
and save 10% with GOLD10.
Become a premium member today.

UPGRADE NOW ×