THE MEG & MEG 2: THE TRENCH

Publicity posters for The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench (© Jon Turteltaub/Gravity Pictures/Di Bonaventura Pictures/Apelles Entertainment/Maeday Productions/Flagship Entertainment/Warner Bros. Pictures // © Ben Wheatley/CMC Pictures/DF Pictures/Di Bonaventura Pictures/Apelles Entertainment/Warner Bros Pictures – both images reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

I'm gonna need a bigger cinema! Yes indeed, I could well have been forgiven for thinking that, because the reason why I visited my own local picture house on 10 August 2018 was to see the newly-arrived cryptozoology-themed monster movie The Meg, which I'd been awaiting with great anticipation for ages.

Size does matter: a visual comparison of the enormous dimensions of the megalodon (grey = maximum estimate, red = conservative estimate) with a whale shark (the world's largest known living species of fish; violet), the great white shark (green), and a human for scale (© Scarlet23/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)

Directed by Jon Turteltaub, co-produced and released in 2018 by Warner Bros. Pictures, and based upon the bestselling novel Meg by Facebook friend Steve Alten, its nominal star is Jason Statham, but its real stars are a couple of CGI megalodons, representing the giant prehistoric shark Otodus megalodon – the largest shark species ever recorded by science. Officially, it became extinct approximately 2.6 million years ago during the late Pliocene epoch, and is principally known physically only from fossilised teeth and vertebrae, but thanks to some intriguing eyewitness accounts on file of supposedly gargantuan sharks, some mystery beast investigators have speculated that it might still exist today. Be that as it may (or may not), this review of mine is of the film, not cryptozoology per se (click here to read my own thoughts concerning the exceedingly contentious prospect of megalodon survival as posted by me earlier on my ShukerNature blog and excerpted from my book Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors). So, back to the movie.

My book Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors, published in 2016 by Coachwhip (© Dr Karl Shuker/Coachwhip Publications)

When the megalodon was first made known to science and formally named back in the 1840s, based upon its triangular and highly-serrated teeths' huge dimensions (up to 7.5 inches high - 'megalodon' translates as 'big tooth') an estimated total length for the entire shark of around 75-98 ft was postulated. In later times, conversely, following further researches, this estimate was downsized to 'a mere' 43-55 ft (although to put that into perspective, this is still more than twice the length of the great white shark Carcharodon carcharias, the largest species of carnivorous shark KNOWN to exist today). But now, even newer research has upsized it again, to as much as 65 ft. However, The Meg is a monster movie, not a shark documentary, so the film makers have adhered to the flawed earlier but cinematically much more spectacular 75-ft dimension (think Jaws writ large - very large!!) - resulting in a truly mega megalodon, a prodigious prehistoric behemoth which if it had lived in an earlier geological era would have been a veritable Jurassic Shark (come on, you knew full well that I was never NOT going to work in that pun somewhere!).

My mother Mary Shuker holding one of my megalodon tooth specimens (© Dr Karl Shuker)

As this is a movie that many fellow cryptozoology fans will definitely want to see if they haven't already done so, I'll avoid spoilers, but the scenario of how the megs are discovered is quite fascinating, featuring the Pacific's deepwater Mariana Trench and a confining thermocline barrier, and they have been digitally recreated on screen to stunning effect. Once their discovery has been made, however, the plot adheres by and large to the typical, generic monster movie storyline - a flawed but immensely brave hero in the shape of rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) sets out to confront said monster(s), interacts along the way with a villain and a naysayer, some wisecracking sidekicks, a cute extra-smart kid, and an initially aloof but ultimately adoring, sassy lady, and after a series of thrilling set pieces finally battles said monsters(s) in a climactic confrontation of epic proportions. But hey, you already guessed that without even needing to watch the film - and who goes to a monster movie to be blown away by the intricacy and intellectual, deeply philosophical nuances (or even the scientific authenticity) of its plot anyway?? What you go to see is the monster(s), and this movie definitely delivers on that score.

Cryptozoological artist William M. Rebsamen's portrayal of an imagined modern-day encounter between man and megalodon (© William M. Rebsamen)

I viewed it in 2-D, but intended to go back during its run to see the 3-D version too (sadly, I never got around to doing so) - I'm not normally a fan of 3-D movies, but there is no doubt that The Meg will do the format justice as it is exactly the type of film benefitted by it. Despite living over a hundred miles (maybe more) in any direction from the sea, an erstwhile friend of mine was seriously galeophobic (afraid of sharks), and I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone with a similar fear, but hardened monster fans will lap it up - it certainly engaged my attention and interest throughout. I can always tell how entertained my mind is by a film by noting how far through it I've viewed before looking at my watch to see what time it is and then calculating how much more of the film remains - with The Meg, I never looked at my watch once. One word of advice: don't bother, as I unfortunately did, (im)patiently sitting through the interminable credits at the end of the film in the expectation that there will be a teaser clip to some projected sequel inserted within or at the end of them - there isn't one. Oh, and just as a BTW: yes indeed, Pippin the Yorkshire terrier does survive his (very) close encounter with a megalodon (whoops, too late for a spoiler alert now).

Standing in front of a life-sized reconstruction of a megalodon's open jaws (© Dr Karl Shuker)

I fully expect that some movie (and also possibly some palaeontological) purists will opine otherwise, but I LOVED The Meg, a worthy new addition to the ever-popular cinematic genre of giant beasts on the rampage, and which along with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Shape of Water (click here to read my ShukerNature review of the latter film and here for an extended version on Shuker In MovieLand) has definitely made my 2018 movie-going experience a truly monstrous one - but in the best possible way. Finally: to view on YouTube an extended trailer for The Meg, please click here.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE! 

The megalodon shark and the giant pliosaur Liopleurodon existed in entirely separate geological eras, so they would never have encountered each other in reality; but here in this vibrant artwork, illustrator Hodari Nundu depicts what such a clash of marine titans might have looked like had it indeed been possible (© Hodari Nundu)

UPDATE: 29 August 2023

Earlier today, I treated myself  to watching the newly-released first sequel to The Meg (there are already plans for a second sequel), entitled Meg 2: The Trench.

Directed by Ben Wheatley, released in 2023 by Warner Bros, and nominally inspired by Alten's second meg novel, The Trench, published in 1999, Meg 2 is very much a movie of two halves. I personally found the first 45 minutes to be deadly dull for the most part, concentrating upon conspiracies and double dealings above and below the ocean surface, instead of upon monsters - which is what we all want to see in a film like this. A few scenes with a captive megalodon specimen appear, but not much else.

 

 

A snapper, one of several wreaking havoc on Fun Island in Meg 2: The Trench (© Ben Wheatley/CMC Pictures/DF Pictures/Di Bonaventura Pictures/Apelles Entertainment/Warner Bros Pictures – both images reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Then comes the second half, which is non-stop monster action throughout, and not just megs either. A gargantuan octopus soon takes the fun out of a holiday resort named Fun Island, alongside the megs and some very hungry fin-tailed deepwater herpetological horrors dubbed snappers, all of which have escaped from their natural home deep within the Mariana Trench via a hole in the thermocline separating the Trench's lowermost ancient ecosystem from the ocean above it. Happily, Jason Statham's redoubtable diver Jonas Taylor is around to take charge and deal with those pesky prehistorics as only he can.

In short, whereas Meg 2 is certainly enjoyable, it is far too drawn-out and monster-lite in the first half for my liking, with everything of creature feature note rammed into the second half. It needed to have been better paced and plotted - simple as that.

 

 

You'll believe a meg can fly! A suspended life-sized megalodon at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (© PLBechly/Wikipedia - CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)

If you'd like to watch a trailer containing some of the best monster moments from Meg 2, be sure to click here to view one on YouTube.

 

I wish to dedicate this ShukerNature article to my longstanding online friend and fellow cryptozoological enthusiast Robert Michaels, whose passing earlier in 2018 I only learnt about on 10 August [2018], just a few hours after returning home from watching The Meg at the cinema.  How very much he would have enjoyed seeing this film, and how very sad I am that he will never do so. Godspeed, Bob, may you now know the answers to all of the countless cryptozoological questions concerning which we corresponded with such shared interest, enjoyment, and zeal over so many years. Please click here to read my tribute to Bob on ShukerNature.

Another publicity poster for The Meg (© Jon Turteltaub/Gravity Pictures/Di Bonaventura Pictures/Apelles Entertainment/Maeday Productions/Flagship Entertainment/Warner Bros. Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)