The Meg
Warner Bros. | Release Date: August 10, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
26
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiAug 9, 2018
The end result may be little more than an exponentially more expensive version of those cheapo Syfy channel movies, but at least it has the good taste to be exponentially better as well. Read full review
75
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerAug 8, 2018
It’s not reinventing the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, but The Meg is a perfect outing for a balmy late-summer evening at the movies. It’s a little preposterous, a little moving, and a lot entertaining. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonAug 8, 2018
The movie is a cheerful pastiche, unpretentious and efficient, and the giant shark, when it finally shows up, is a pretty good special effect, although I’m not sure I’d value it at $150 million (the amount of Chinese money it took to make the movie). Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldAug 8, 2018
It’s all good, goofy fun; make it an air-conditioned double feature with “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” and you might just have the very definition of “summer movies.” Read full review
73
IGNWilliam BibbianiAug 9, 2018
The Meg is a big, dumb shark movie that takes itself a little too seriously, and that’s the point. Jason Statham is perfect for the material, the shark attacks are entertainingly broad, and the supporting cast brings personality to the otherwise straightforward script. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 13, 2018
Statham is the real thing, and he’s key to the effectiveness of this good-natured and often highly ridiculous adaptation of Steve Alten’s 1997 sci-fi potboiler. Read full review
70
Screen DailyDemetrios MatheouAug 8, 2018
It’s a likeable popcorn movie, with some good monster moments, an engaging international cast and Jon Turteltaub helming a family-friendly balance of laughter and mayhem. Read full review
67
UproxxVince ManciniAug 9, 2018
As relatively weak as the CGI is, The Meg is brilliant at giving its dopey characters consistently entertaining dialogue and striking the perfect balance of clever/stupid without being overly self-aware. Read full review
67
Film Journal InternationalRebecca PahleAug 8, 2018
Is it a particularly great movie? No. Does it have some pretty major structural problems? Yes. Does Jason Statham fight a giant, prehistoric shark in it? Yes. Verdict: See The Meg. The Meg will cleanse your soul. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 8, 2018
It is ridiculous, cheesy popcorn fun. And Statham, God bless him, knows exactly what kind of guilty pleasure he’s signed on for — Sharknado with a bigger budget and a much bigger monster. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineNiles SchwartzAug 8, 2018
Jaws works as both a horror film and a human drama. The Meg doesn't aspire to the earlier film's pathos (its flagrant callbacks to Jaws draw attention to how grotesquely adolescent it is by comparison), but that's because it's above all else a movie-star vehicle, and it succeeds on that front. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 8, 2018
Forgettably entertaining/entertainingly forgettable. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredRobert Yaniz Jr.Aug 16, 2018
The Meg delivers the Statham-versus-giant-shark battle moviegoers are promised, but does so in a way that still manages to be underwhelming. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeAug 14, 2018
It’s not quite Sharknado or Mega-shark Versus Giant Octopus level, but The Meg is certainly on the sillier end of the big, dumb shark-movie spectrum. Read full review
60
Total FilmJordan FarleyAug 13, 2018
Living up to its billing as the most ridiculous film of the summer, The Meg is one to laugh at rather than with. Instantly forgettable, but undeniably fun. Read full review
60
CineVueDaniel GreenAug 9, 2018
There’s just enough thrills and gills here to satisfy both monster-movie junkies and advocates of multi-million dollar US/Chinese co-productions. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerAug 8, 2018
Like director Jon Turteltaub’s underrated National Treasure movies, The Meg has an innate understanding of its own absurdity, and is at its best when it embraces and amplifies that impulse. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 8, 2018
There are no depths to which The Meg won’t sink. But as trashy cinema goes, it all feels a little too well behaved. Read full review
60
The GuardianMike McCahillAug 8, 2018
If the shark-versus-Statham bout doesn’t tickle you, the shark-versus-Pekinese sidebar might. Not quite killer, but it’s rare to see a 21st-century blockbuster having this much fun – right through to its sign-off – with its own premise. Read full review
55
Paste MagazineTim GriersonAug 9, 2018
More giggle-inducing than terrifying, The Meg throws enough incidents at you that it simulates the feeling of being entertaining. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeAug 8, 2018
Audiences in the mood to be scared will certainly send their popcorn flying during a few tense moments of The Meg. But they’ll also wish the movie had bothered to find an equivalent to Robert Shaw’s USS Indianapolis speech in “Jaws.” When the human characters are reduced to chum, it’s hard to care about them getting eaten. Read full review
50
Original-CinLiam LaceyAug 9, 2018
Audiences looking for a so-bad-its-good bit of kitsch catharsis will likely be let down. The Meh – sorry, The Meg – is so calculatedly flattened out for international markets, especially its Chinese financiers, that even the dialogue feels as though it’s in translation. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 9, 2018
The Meg takes itself far too seriously. The only amusing elements are Jason Statham’s occasional one-liners coupled with his exasperated expressions. Read full review
50
The Film StageJordan RaupAug 8, 2018
With The Meg, Turtletaub flounders about, failing to wring out a basic amount of tension in most scenes, leaving us to swim around in circles with only spare, Statham-infused signs of life. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleAug 8, 2018
The Meg is best when it acknowledges its derivativeness, just one more silly shark movie in an ocean full of them. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 8, 2018
The Meg, stolidly directed by Jon Turteltaub (“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” “National Treasure”), winds up proving a fairly obvious theory about its chosen sub-genre: the more massive the shark (and the budget), the lighter the scares and the lower the stakes. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 8, 2018
Unlike his action-movie rival Johnson, Statham does not have the charisma to carry this film. He gets the job done all right, but makes it feel more like work than play. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 8, 2018
If there’s a disappointment to The Meg, it’s not just that the movie isn’t good enough. It’s that it’s not bad enough. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 8, 2018
Whether you like The Meg depends on how much you like seeing Jason Statham in and out of a wetsuit, doing action-hero things. He's certainly good at it, and he's the best thing about the movie, not that the competition is particularly fierce. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnAug 8, 2018
Statham remains an appealing summer movie fixture, but sharks deserve better than this. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 8, 2018
The movie dawdles along, boring us as it does, in between action sequences. There’s a good chase or two, a generic escape here and there, but almost no cool lines and no catch-phrases. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyAug 8, 2018
The Meg is lackadaisically paced, dull to look at, and has trouble keeping track of space and plot. Read full review
40
VoxAlissa WilkinsonAug 9, 2018
In the hands of Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure), it’s just a shark movie, and a kind of inert one at that. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 9, 2018
Turteltaub is too buoyant for horror — the deaths and danger never sink in. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 9, 2018
It’s too chintzy to be a proper high-octane action flick and not nearly over-the-top campy enough to be the conduit for a great B-movie endorphin rush. Read full review
40
Vanity FairRichard LawsonAug 8, 2018
The Meg is bad, but only rarely in the fun way. Read full review
40
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Aug 8, 2018
Shark. Weak. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 8, 2018
The Meg proves only that, at least cinematically speaking, great-white movies may have finally jumped the shark. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 9, 2018
The makers of The Meg may have gone to school on Spielberg, but the big-budget deep-sea thriller is nothing but bloodless summer filler. Unsure if he wants to have some fun and jump the Sharknado or make a seriously gory fish fest, director Jon Turteltaub has surfaced with nets empty. Read full review
30
Film ThreatMatthew PassantinoAug 11, 2018
The Meg is simply toothless. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaAug 9, 2018
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters when it could be spending it with, you know, the giant shark. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAug 8, 2018
The Meg is simply mediocre, PG-13 monster-moviemaking at its mind-numbing kinda/sorta best-ish. Meh. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 8, 2018
Unlike “Sharknado,” The Meg doesn’t seem to know how dumb it is. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyAug 8, 2018
Blandly internationalized, generically derivative, drained of any personality, edited as if by computer and bleached of the slightest hint of emotion other than a holiday card-like sympathy for children and allegedly cute animals, The Meg is a one hundred percent inorganic meal, something made from pre-tasted and then regurgitated ingredients. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 9, 2018
It’s a tired, inert sci-fi thriller featuring a succession of escalating action sequences that all, somehow, fail to ignite. The cliches mount. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 8, 2018
She also doesn’t satisfy. At all. After experiencing Meg, you’ll crack open your Little Shark Book and call up Jaws. Read full review
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