Amazon Prime is adding one of the most expensive sci-fi films starring Jason Statham in recent years to its program. It delivers some decent action, but could have been much more brutal and crazy if you look at the original
“Who are we? Big Hollywood studios! What do we want? Cool shark action! …But not too bloody, please?” You can just imagine studio representatives and advisors sitting around a large table and patting themselves on the back with satisfaction because they’ve once again got both: A shark blockbuster and an age rating that makes it a family movie.
The fact that wonderful butchery potential is wasted in the process is of secondary importance. Meg with Jason Statham suffered exactly the same fate. The movie does turn up the action dial as much as possible and creates its own fun factor. But if you look at the original plans and, above all, Meg’s original book, a whole world of untapped potential suddenly opens up as a gore-fest. Meg is now available on Amazon Prime.
Meg on Amazon Prime has a simple yet ingenious formula: Jason Statham vs. giant shark
What could possibly go wrong when super-rich people get a little too curious and poke around in the deepest depths of the ocean? That’s right: everything. This is also the case in Meg, where a billionaire commissions research into the deep sea and the Mariana Trench in particular. The researchers suspect that the area previously known as the “floor” of the trench is possibly just a cloud of gases and that there is more underneath.
A research team dives down with a submarine – and confirms their suspicions. But shortly afterwards they realize that they have stirred up something down there. Something big. Something that keen shark lovers will be delighted to see parading across the screen: a megalodon, a giant shark from prehistoric times and the inspiration for the film’s title. The deep-sea crew must be rescued. Enter Jason Statham aka Jonas Taylor, a rescue diver
(Jason Statham (and visitor) in Meg)
Of course, it’s not just a rescue mission or a single encounter with the monster shark, and soon the lives of countless people are at stake. After all, the Meg wouldn’t be a true adversary for Statham if he was satisfied with just a few tidbits of marine research. What follows is absurd action on the largest possible shark scale.
Meg’s original offered far more carnage than the movie – and even a dinosaur
For any fan of cultivated shark horror, the initial situation in Meg sounds heavenly at first. But Meg is actually very anemic for a story about a hungry prehistoric shark. The original plans for Meg looked very different. The film underwent a transformation in the course of its production history and went from being a bloody horror shocker to a mainstream blockbuster candidate. This is all the more tragic when you take a look at the story of the original book.
The novel is just as brutal in its depiction of violence as it is crazy in its imagery. Although the plot is just as flat, according to the entertainment website Yahoo News author Steve Alten doesn’t mince his words when it comes to the most disgusting details of a monster attack. Everything is described as vividly and unembellished as possible.
But that’s not all. Steve Alten writes some epic and crazy scenes that could have looked incredibly cool in the final movie. The destructive rage of the Meg is introduced by the shark tearing apart a Tyrannosaurus rex in the distant past. Later, there is a direct, extensively depicted duel between a nuclear submarine and the Meg.
