THE MEG
This movie has been a long time in
the making. I mean, seriously, a very long time in the making. The
original Novel was released in 1997 and was almost immediately gobbled
up by Hollywood’s “development hell” with author Steve Alten continuing
the adventures of the lead character, Jonas Taylor, in a series of
further titles. Jan de Bont, Guillermo Del Toro, and Eli Roth were all
attached to direct the project and the project just kept falling through
time and time again.
In the meantime, the past few
years have brought a slew of successful “shark” films to the surface
with The Shallows and 47 Meters Down both doing very well in the Box
Office and that prime the pumps on the project which had found it’s
director in Jon Turtletaub. The film was also set to feature Jason
Statham with Lie Bingbing and would also be an American/Chinese
co-production. Originally scheduled to release in March of 2018, the
film was (wisely) pushed back to take advantage of the Summer
Blockbuster season.
The results are a mixed bag. It’s
crazy, over the top, and just violent enough to really get the heart
pumping. The film knows what it is- a popcorn muncher that doesn’t need
to delve too deeply into the shallow characters, but rather builds on
the spectacle of a giant shark. At it’s core, this is a B-Movie with a
great budget for visual effects. We mostly see a lot of CGI, but some
practical effects help elevate the stakes and place the characters dead
set in the path of a raging Megalodon. Statham is charming and funny and
it hits all the notes it needs to.
But this is all there is. It’s a
beefed up SyFy film complete with all the clichés you would expect to
find in any one of a dozen shark films from The Asylum. Crackpot
science, arrogant corporate billionaire, the wronged hero, the earnest
scientist, tech wizard, and wise-cracking comic relief are all present
and all do their thing and there aren’t any real surprises here. The
movie goes where you expect it to, the “shocks” aren’t very complicated,
and a major change from the novel doesn’t have half the satisfaction or
horror as the source material.
You’re not going to go wrong with
this popcorn muncher, but you shouldn’t expect more than what it
promises to offer.
7 out of 10 and a strong recommendation.
GODZILLA: City of the Edge of Battle
Last year’s Animated “GODZILLA”
film from Toho Studios built a new world for the giant lizard, both
figuratively and literally. Featuring multiple levels of animation,
including CGI, traditional techniques, and photo-realistic texture
designs it was an achievement in modern animation. And where we last
left off, our heroes are stranded on the remains of planet earth after
killing what they learn to be one of Godzilla’s offspring. The original
is still kicking around hundreds of thousands of years later, and the
scattered remnants of the exploratory force myst find one another and
make new discoveries along the way.
Among those new discoveries
include a tribe of humanity’s descendants, devoted to a mysterious “God”
that guides their actions and allows them a small measure of psychic
abilities. Haruo finds himself trusting the members of the Houtua,
especially the one twin girl Miana,who helped to save him and treat his
wounds. But the rest of the crew is distrustful, especially the alien
tech worshipers; the Bilusaludo. But with their help they are able to
uncover the remains of the long abandoned technology originally
engineered to battle and defeat Godzilla- the Mecha-Godzilla.
What is truly amazing about this
film is that it is a deeply rich “Sci-Fi” story within the context of
humanity’s struggle against a giant monster- the crew and survivors of
the Aratrum have been lost in space for decades- but being further from
the sun, and due to the effects of gravity on the dimension of time,
hundreds of thousands of years have passed on Earth. Familiar elements
from the Godzilla mythos are altered to fit the Sci-Fi nature (such as
replacing a giant robot with the self-replicating nano-tech of
Mecha-Godzilla.) Slowly, but surely, cracks begin to appear in the
certainty of Haruo’s mission to defeat the giant lizard and the morality
of his actions come into play. How far is he willing to go to defeat
his sworn enemy?
Currently streaming through
Netflix, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle is a fun ride and highly
recommended for fans of the genre.
8 out of 10.
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