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Posted August 6, 2018 by Angelo Delos Trinos in Movies/TV
 
 

‘The Meg’ – A Quick Bite With Jason Statham

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‘The Meg’ [Credit: Warner Brothers]

The Meg follows the disgraced deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) when his chance to redeem himself comes in the form of rescuing a group of oceanographers and scientists from an ancient threat: a 75-foot-long shark known as a Megalodon, a species long thought to be extinct.

While obviously not the first movie to feature a killer shark or a prehistoric Megalodon for that matter, The Meg is notable for being quite possibly the biggest shark movie to hit the big screens in the past decade. Hitting cinemas this Wednesday in both regular cinemas and on IMAX screens, The Meg promises a thrilling summer blockbuster that owes its existence to the likes of Jaws and Jurassic Park, but now with the budget of a Transformers movie.

Jaws vs. Jason:  Jason Statham Talks About ‘The Meg’

The Meg Cast

‘The Meg’ [Credit: Warner Brothers]

In his latest movie that he describes as “the ultimate popcorn film,” modern-day action star Jason Statham of The Transporter fame plays a role not commonly associated with his gruff onscreen persona: a rescuer. Combined with his real-life interest in life under the sea and his 20 years of scuba diving, Statham is confident that his role as Taylor in The Meg may be one of his most compelling performances in an already esteemed acting career.

Jason Statham: I’m used to ending people’s lives on camera, but this is a guy who spent his life saving people, and I thought there was something cool about that.  He [ Jonas Taylor] also has a good sense of humor and I could certainly relate to some of the emotions he goes through.  And the physicality the role required was something I’m very familiar with.  So, given all those things, Jonas was a character I thought I could do some kind of justice to, and that’s what I tend to look for.

In The Meg, Taylor is only one of three people in the world to have attempted a deep sea rescue mission below 10,000 meters and lived to tell the tale. But despite this amazing feat and his stellar record of saving lives, Taylor is dishonored by his superiors when he claims that a massive shark that could only be an extinct species attacked a nuclear submarine that he was on. Now years later, Taylor may finally have the chance to reclaim his former glory and prove his detractors wrong – only if he can stop the prehistoric shark before it wreaks havoc on humanity.

Producer Belle Avery: This is a man who saw something incredible, but instead of people believing him, they destroyed his career.

Jason Statham: Jonas is a character who needs redemption… I like the conflict that Jonas is up against.  People were saying he was a crazy man, that he had lost his mind.  But he had an instinct that something was down there.  And now he gets to prove himself right.

The Meg

‘The Meg’ [Credit: Warner Brothers]

According to director Jon Turteltaub), the star of the Death Race remake and the latest addition to the growing cast of the Fast and Furious franchise more than did justice to his role. The director also praised his movie’s star as both an actor and a person, wrapping up his positive words by declaring Statham to be a “true movie star.”

Jon Turteltaub: Jason has this onscreen persona that makes you feel you’re in good hands when he’s in charge.  When stuff goes wrong, that’s the guy I want to follow; that’s the guy who makes me feel safe.  It’s just the way he carries himself.  There’s nothing false about Jason; he doesn’t fake his stunts, doesn’t fake his physical appearance—it’s all legit.  He’s strong, honest, funny and clever and you just want to watch him.  He’s a true movie star.


Rounding out the international main cast of The Meg are Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Page Kennedy, Jessica McNamee, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Robert Taylor, Sophia Shuya Cai, Masi Oka and Cliff Curtis.Diving into Philippine cinemas nationwide August 8, The Meg will be released in 2D, 3D and 4D in select theaters, as well as in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and other large premium formats.  The film is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

 


Angelo Delos Trinos

 
Part-time artist and writer, full-time critic/overthinker. He believes that Samuel L.Jackson is the greatest actor on earth and he misses video stores.