I was seriously sceptical about "The Meg" - I think with some justification. Particularly after not liking "Sharknado," its spiritual predecessor in the category of cheesy shark movies. But a friend who's a connoisseur of all the finest cheese said that this was a good one, and my weakness for stupid-ass action films got me the rest of the way. The writers were having a blast (and, more importantly for us, doing a good job). I was particularly fond of the precocious eight year old daughter, but the other comedic highlight was them working in a brilliant "Finding Nemo" reference, with Jonas (Jason Statham) in the ocean saying "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming ..."

The concept is simple: underwater research facility sends a sub to visits an unexplored region of the ocean, attracts a megalodon - a 25 metre long shark thought to be several million years extinct. Havoc ensues. The action sequences are appropriately ludicrous but mostly entertaining. And reasonably intelligent and humorous writing made the parts in between the action fairly good. I found the last half to three quarters of an hour somewhat drawn out - if the movie had been 75 minutes instead of 113 minutes it would have been perfect.

The mixed Chinese-American origins of the movie are visible in a couple ways: first, both languages are spoken at different points in the movie (with subs), and second, the hero and heroine don't kiss at the end, they just talk about plans.