IN THE MEG, OPENING NEXT WEEK, JASON STATHAM DITCHES HIS MUSCLE CAR FOR A WETSUIT TO BATTLE A PREHISTORIC SHARK. GET READY FOR JAWS ON STEROIDS.
THIS IS TRICKY STUFF,” WARNS DIRECTOR JON TURTELTAUB. THE NEW YORK-BORN FILMMAKER STANDS NEXT TO A COLOSSAL WATER-TANK ON THE BACKLOT OF KUMEU FILM STUDIO IN WEST AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, AND GESTURES BEHIND HIM TO A BOAT — OR AT LEAST A SECTION OF A BOAT, CREATED FOR THE PRODUCTION TO REPRESENT THE AFT OF A VESSEL CALLED THE CHARLOTTE — WHICH HE’S ABOUT TO CAPSIZE.
Towering over us are three 100ft (or 30m)-high cranes, one of which is tethered to one side of The Charlotte’s hull — which, we notice, has an ominous swathe of rust-red blood smeared across it. Stunt people, frowning in concentration, walk the deck, preparing for the organised chaos to come. Among them are two people who, taken together, have a good chance of being recognised the whole world over: British action star Jason Statham, and Chinese actress Li Bingbing. And beyond them all looms a massive green screen, no fewer than 864 sq m in size. This will do the job of convincing audiences that we’re not in fact in a former prefab housing factory on New Zealand’s north island, but many thousands of miles away, in the western Pacific Ocean that borders the Southeast Asian mainland. There, something is about to rise from the unfathomable depths to seriously rock this bloodstained boat. Something very big.That very big something is the titular creature — a 75ft-long prehistoric shark — in The Meg, a pulse-pounding thrill ride and outrageously fun movie event that combines action and humor and pits action superstar Jason Statham in a head-tohead battle with a mammoth megalodon.
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