The title of the new movie “The Meg” is short for Megalodon, which is a the largest shark that has ever existed and lived millions of years ago and is thought to be extinct.

The way this story brings back this huge shark I thought was well done, but after the shark comes back to terrorize and kill almost everybody in this movie – some of the logistics due to the decisions the characters make to try and kill or escape this shark are some of the stupidest I have ever seen. What makes making a new shark movie so difficult is that it has to be something we have not seen before – and this idea is new. Then the story has to make sense, but for this movie any level of plausibility is thrown out the window within the first 30 minutes. One scene that stood out for me as one of the dumbest ever was when one professional diver played by Jason Statham makes an idiotic decision to go into the water with a 70 foot shark – in an attempt to spear him with a tracking dart. He decides to do this after a scientist says to him, “sharks are not threatened by one person in the water”. The problem here is a total lack of common sense in an attempt to create a dramatic moment. Nobody would ever do something this stupid, no way, never. There are so many idiotic decisions like this from too many characters to make this film enjoyable enough to recommend. If a movie makes no sense because the decisions of the characters are so absurd – then the whole story dies.

This movie probably marks the first time that Jason Statham has ever been in a role where he did not use his impressive Karate skills. Statham is also the only named star in this movie and the only other standout actress, who I thought was the best part of this entire movie is actress Shuya Sophia Cai – who is just about the cutest child I have ever seen in any movie. Her presence just about steals the entire story about a prehistoric shark that comes back to life. Anyone who has seen the 1975 first summer blockbuster will recognize about 3 references to Jaws – including a dog named Pippin.

The ending of this story has the usual expected attempt at a twist that really did not work and surprisingly I thought the special effects were probably the result of a budget that was not high enough for impressive special effects.

The Rotten Tomatoes review of this movie is an anemic 50%. For me, mostly because of the idiotic decisions of the characters in this movie – to create drama, I cannot recommend The Meg.