Swimming with Sharks

        For years a remake or reboot of JAWS (1975) has been rumored within the inner circle, but talks never get that far.  In a world of valuable IP, the characters of JAWS and the Brody family’s personal battle with vindictive sharks is secure from rip-offs, but it turns out you can’t trademark sharks.  There have been a bundle of JAWSor water creature inspired movies over the years.   Deep Rising (1998) is always one of the ones that rises to the top of the list for me, and of course Sharknado (2013).   Lake Placid (1999) is crocs in a lake in lieu of sharks, but same drill.  Anaconda (1997) has snakes instead of sharks in the jungle, but the same concept of jump scares coming from the water.  Deep Blue Sea (1999) was a nifty entry in the shark movie field, especially with great one-liners from Sam Jackson and LL Cool J.   Back in 1999, Deep Blue Sea was a moderate success.  It made back its budget domestically, and took in over $160 million worldwide with an R rating.  Open Water (2003) was a low budget indie take on the genre, based on a true story of divers stranded and unable to get back on their boat while being surrounded by hungry sharks.  Now fast forward to 2018.  What do you get when Jason Statham and a Dinosaur inspired Megalodon swim into the room?   Turns out the real money was taking JAWS and mixing it with Jurassic Park, and that combo gets you $530 million worldwide. 

            Jason Statham has had a lucrative career as a top action star.  He got his big break in Guy Ritchie’s epic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).  I have been waiting for years for Guy Ritchie to work on another heist or bank robbery gangster movie or limited series for a streamer that showcases his great eye for action and passion for engaging eccentric characters.  Statham, going on his 3rd decade in Hollywood, exemplifies the recent trend of mature gentleman in the 55+ club still controlling most of the big budget studio pictures.   There has been an inability to successfully launch new younger male stars, so the marquee names of 2023 feel like the same list of stars from 2005 – because they are.  Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and now Jason Statham.  There are only so many big names that can open a movie these days, and have a solid guarantee of box office gold on the worldwide level, let alone domestically.  Statham has had a lot of great roles, but my favorites are always the OG Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Transporter (2002), Crank (2006), Crank 2: High Voltage (2009), The Expendables (2010), and Hobbs and Shaw (2019).   This impressive filmography, where he often performs his own stunts with his martial arts and extensive physical conditioning background, met his best collaborator when it came to a shark.  Statham and a shark are a simple idea, but at the same time it could be the most genius marketing concept in years that swelled The Meg (2018) to his biggest box office take outside of the Fast and The Furious franchise. 

Meg 2: The Trench (2023) kicks off with Jonas Taylor (Statham) now an eco-warrior, infiltrating a cargo ship that is illegally dumping toxic chemicals into the ocean. Sienna Guillory plays an amazing villainess caricature of urban gentrification (I call her the latte lady), decked out with designer sunglasses, a very fabulous flowy wardrobe, and her own helicopter.  She is a unique foe for Statham, similar to the character played by Charlize Theron in the Fast and the Furious series, with the same style, just not as gritty.  She dispatches her European henchmen to the hard work of fighting Statham.  The lead flunky is played by Sergio Peris-Mencheta, who was imprisoned after Statham caught him doing some environmental crimes, and now wants revenge.   Turns out the illegal deep sea mining operation sets off an explosion that allows not just one Megalodon, but two Megalodons to escape from their prehistoric prison in the deep-water trench and cause havoc on the tourists in Paradise Island.  The subtle eco-friendly subplot is pretty clear to me: you mess with the ocean and you and your designer threads get eaten by sharks.  The middle of the story is actually a really well shot underwater adventure, with the sharks playing only a sidekick role.  But in the final reel, the sharks come out to play.    The best scene is where Statham gets to joust the Megalodons on a waterski!  The movie doesn’t pretend to take itself too seriously, and it delivers summer fun, over the top action, adventure, with ample comedic beats to help compliment your popcorn.  There is even a closing credits song entitled “Chomp” by Hip Hop artist Paige Kennedy touting the Apex Predator Megalodon that my 6-year-old digs (full disclosure - he was not old enough to enjoy this movie).  To its critics, is it still a B Movie if it makes over $300 million worldwide?  The combo of The Meg and Meg 2 could chomp its way to over $900 million plus licensing through HBO and Max in the pay/streaming window as well as other windows on basic cable and FAST channels.  It does have some mature themes (appropriate PG-13 Rating), but the gore is not that excessive so younger teens who might be overly obsessed with dinosaurs and/or Megalodons will enjoy this one without much fear.   Somehow a shark swallowing a T-Rex in the cold open feels like a nature movie one would see on Nat Geo, so I feel most kids would just laugh it off.    My only note would be to tighten up the running time.  Excessive lengths for these types of movies should be given a hard look.  It takes quite a lot of skill to surround a conventional shark attack movie, with a deeper environmental subtext.  I would hire Jason Statham on a Greenpeace secret mission (or as my personal trainer or to entertain my kids) any day of the week. 

            Meg 2 features a diverse cast including a lot of international actors, and was co-produced by a Chinese studio CMC Pictures, so it has a natural fit in the international box office waters.  Wu Jing (Jacky Wu) international action star is a great compliment to Jason Statham, and it also well known for handling his own stunt work in his prolific martial arts and superaction career at the Chinese box office.   It turns out the formula to score a big win in China is to cast a Chinese star as the co-star of your movie - who knew?  With the current no-fly zone in Russia for American distributors, China plays a vital role as one of the most valuable international markets.  Recent Hollywood big budget releases have been floundering and have underperformed for a variety of reasons in China.  Meg 2 may not surpass the financial success of the original, but it may still perform well enough for more shark fin-offs given the current turbulent movie economy and demand for known IP to offset creative risks at the box office. Hollywood has an obsession with swimming with sharks in more ways than one, but Meg 2 left me with just one main question. Did the Megalodon perform their own stunts?