Perhaps not everyone knows that Shark - The first shark it's not exactly an original production. The translation of The Meg mistakenly suggests a reboot of the iconic saga that began with The Shark di Steven Spielberg but in fact this is inspired by a novel of the same name written more than twenty years ago by the American writer Steve Alten. During the writing period, one Disney in search of new experiences and markets he had eyed the manuscript and bought the rights for a cinematographic transposition of the story. The screenplay presented, however, disappointed the expectations of the original creator, who hindered its realization and everything ended in a stalemate.
In a historical period in which the figure of the aquatic predator has definitely returned to the limelight thanks to the success of films such as Sharknado and the like, the Warner Bros. acquires the rights and entrusts to the famous Eli Roth the task of making it a flagship product. The Chinese Flagship Entertainment he offers to produce most of the film, but various creative divergences lead to the director's abandonment. Thanks to Jon Turteltaub and to an exceptional cast this finally sees the light.
The protagonist of this story is Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) a diver specialized in rescue missions at great depths who after a bad recovery decides to retire from the world of diving. In his last descent, the diver was forced to leave his companions behind due to an unidentified threat that no one wanted to believe, and since then he has lived for the day on a remote beach of the Thailand. Five years after these events, a group of researchers set up a research platform in the middle of the Pacific to explore an underwater cavity supposedly deeper than the Mariana Trench.
The expedition financed by the eccentric Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson) follows Dr. Minway (Winston Chao) and his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing). When the exploratory team led by his ex-wife Celestial (Jessica McNamee) will be trapped inside a thermocline full of prehistoric creatures, it will be up to our hero to dive again to rescue them. Thanks to the support of the friend Poppy (Cliff Curtis) and the technician Jaxx (Ruby Rose) The Marine Station team will have some chance of surviving the destructive fury of the megalodon.
Shark - The first shark comes to the rescue of anyone who feels the need or lack of an action blockbuster with sharks as protagonists. By becoming widely spokesperson for the contemporary philosophy of "bigger is better", the feature film imposes itself with arrogance in today's cinematic scene thanks to its excessive use of special effects and heart-pounding scenes. Taking advantage of healthy self-irony, many scenes of tension result less obvious than they might seem at first.
Unfortunately due to its extremely commercial nature, most of the cruder scenes were omitted from the final cut, probably leaving a bad taste in the mouth of those who would have expected something more gory from the film. At the end Shark maintains expectations, while still remaining an average film and with nothing too relevant or exceptional to show respect to similar productions.
