<em>'The Meg'</em> almost succeeds in being a fun action blockbuster, though for me it comfortably falls short of doing so. To put it bluntly, I simply got bored whilst watching it. I like the cast, but that's about it in terms of positives. The effects and story just didn't do it for yours truly. <em>'Jaws'</em> (obviously) and even <em>'Piranha'</em> did it better, this one doesn't have anything fresh to add to the subgenre of man-eating fish. It kinda does its own thing for the first half, however by the end it really could just be a flick from either of those two named franchises. As noted, I did like those onscreen. Jason Statham isn't at his best but is nevertheless effortlessly entertaining. He, Li Bingbing and Sophia Cai are a cute trio. Cliff Curtis is pretty solid too. Page Kennedy is OK, I remember him from TV's <em>'Rush Hour'</em> (I'm one of a few that actually saw and enjoyed that show). I can't imagine the sequel turned out any better. I am going to soon find out, here's hoping it does.

This is one of these international co-productions that has way too many producers and vested interests behind it, so it's no great surprise that what we do end up with is such an hybrid of so many other films, It's actually quite hard to be objective when writing about it. The obvious comparisons are with "Jaws" (1975) and "Deep Blue Sea" (1999) but this is a distinctly poor relation. Even on an IMAX screen, it moves along with all the pace of a milk-float even despite the lively contributions from the enthusiastic Jason Statham as he attacks the leviathan with a glorified Stanley knife. The remainder of the acting and pretty much all of the dialogue is typically banal and but for the very effective use of CGI this would achieve laughs not gasps. Can't wait for the sequel....

It's nice to see a Shark-led Creature Feature that's actually got some money behind it, but _The Meg_ is still really nothing special. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._