The Meg is a science fiction thriller, directed by Jon Turteltaub. The screenplay is by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber. The Meg is loosely based on the 1997 book named Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The movie follows a group of scientists who encounter a 75-foot-long (23 m) megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the floor of the Pacific Ocean. I was so afraid The Meg was going to be another Jaws, which I have never seen. Low and behold, it was not.
— SLIGHT SPOILERS —
Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham), a rescue diver, attempts to save a group of scientists trapped inside a nuclear submarine. As Jonas is rescuing the last survivor, he sees the hull of the submarine being rammed in by an unknown creature. When he returns to the rescue vessel, he discovers two members of his crew are stuck in the damaged submarine. Jonas realizes if he attempts to finish the rescue, it would result in the death of everyone. Moments after leaving, the damaged sub is destroyed in an explosion. Jonas’ account of what happened, a giant sea creature was the cause of the disaster, was dismissed by Dr. Heller (Robert Taylor) who believed that Jonas was affected by pressure-induced psychosis.
Five years later, billionaire Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson) meets Dr. Minway Zhang (Wilson Chao) at the underwater research facility “Mana One”, which Morris finances. Zhang and his daughter, Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing), an oceanographer, are supervising a mission to explore what may be an even deeper section of the Marianas trench concealed by a cloud of hydrogen sulfide, forming a thermocline. The mission is being conducted by Lori Taylor (Jessica McNamee), Jonas’ ex-wife, Toshi (Masi Oka) and The Wall (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) in a submersible. The mission appears to be going well until a very large creature hits the submersible and causes it to lose contact with Mana One.
James “Mac” Mackreides (Cliff Curtis), another crew member at the station, suggests sending Jonas down to attempt a rescue, citing the similarity to his story. Despite Heller’s objections, Zhang and Mac decide to travel to Thailand to recruit Jonas anyway. Suyin attempts the rescue herself in a submersible, but a colossal squid intervenes. Before the squid can crush the submersible, a massive shark kills it, freeing Suyin. Agreeing to help, Jonas is able to reach the trapped submersible and saves Lori and The Wall.
At this point, the adventure is just beginning. This film will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through. Brilliant acting and suspense keeps The Meg very interesting. The rock bottom ideas they had to come up with throughout their journey, is mind blowing. I really liked The Meg, I think you will like it as well. There is so much more to this film that makes it a far cry from the same types of movies we usually see Jason Statham appear in. He didn’t have one physical fight during the entire movie. Check it out!
Risen is about a Roman soldier’s search for Jesus’ body following the Resurrection. I’ve seen many stories of the resurrection and beyond, somehow Risen is different. I liked it because there were no special effects or gimmicks to grab your attention or keep you interested beyond the facts. I also thought the actors were closer to the way the people probably looked in that part of the world at that time and I was actually surprised throughout the movie even though I knew the story well. Back in December 2002, CNN released a computer generated picture of what Jesus most likely looked like according to the time, place and history of the region where He lived, as illustrated in Popular Mechanics. (See picture with partial story below.) The actor (Cliff Curtis) who played the role of Yeshua (one of many names of Jesus and the name which was used in Risen) resembles that look more than any other actor I’ve seen playing the role of Jesus.
CAROL's WORLDS 