Megalodon


release year: 2018
genre: giant shark drama/action
viewing setting: home streaming 8/18/25

synopsis: A giant prehistoric shark emerges from the depths to menace a Navy destroyer.

impressions: Here we have a ripoff of 2018's the Meg courtesy of our friends at The Asylum. It actually wasn't that bad, but you do need to know that pretty much all of the action happens on a single ship, and there's a lot of focus on characters. And also, many sets are low-budget and so they don't really look like what they're supposed to be, such as the bridge and the engine room. Minor details, but still. Other things of note include: random shots of the shark doing things every so often, to remind us that it's there...a minisub that spent much of the movie trapped inside the shark's stomach...an admiral who fluctuates between being nice and being a jerk...a lot of instances of "I'm going to ask you this one last time" followed by absolutely no consequences...Russian rescuees/prisoners who are all assholes and should have been secured...the shark actually ramming the ship multiple times...a Pentagon that's unwilling to help the ship after it's been crippled by the shark...a potentially disastrous idea involving abandoning ship via lifeboats while the shark is still around. Be aware that this is one of THREE movies in this series and we'll be watching and reviewing those others next!

acting: Dominic Pace is the captain, and he's got a lot of screen time here (and he likes to get up in peoples' faces and remind them repeatedly how important their given task is.) Caroline Harris is his second-in-command who's impulsive. Ego Mikitas is the Russian sub captain, who's a sneering asshole 100% of the time. Paulina Nguyen is some sort of engineer who whips up devices to save the day several times. Michael Madsen is an old admiral who's on board for some reason but has minimal screen time.

final word: Decent mockbuster released in time to take advantage of the larger-budget Hollywood movie with the same basic topic - but fairly entertaining.

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