The Meg (PG-13)
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Caution: potential spoilers.

This came out in 2018, but I didn't see it until 2025. I watched it because it was Shark Week. It's loosely based on a book I haven't read. It didn't do well critically, but I thought it was good. You know, not great, but definitely good.

It starts out with a team of rescue divers led by Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) trying to evacuate the crew of a submarine that was being destroyed by an unseen creature. They managed to rescue eleven men, but two got left behind, for which another member of the team, Dr. Heller, blames Jonas. He doesn't believe there was any creature (though I guess he has no explanation for what happened to the sub), and thinks Jonas was a coward who was suffering from depth-induced psychosis, or something like that.

Five years later, Heller is working on a research facility called Mana One, off the coast of China. The leader (I think) of the project is Dr. Minway Zhang, and another member of the team is his daughter, Suyin (Li Bingbing). Her 8-year-old daughter, Meiying, also lives on the research station. And there are various other people who work there, including Jonas's friend, Mac, an engineer named Jaxx (Ruby Rose), and another engineer named DJ. They are joined by the billionaire who financed the project, Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson), on the day that the crew of a submersible vessel attempts to dive beneath a freezing layer of hydrogen sulfide. This was previously thought to be the bottom of the trench, but the Mana One team has a theory that an even deeper level of the ocean is hidden by the thermocline. The crew includes Jonas's ex-wife, Lori, a guy called the Wall, and another guy named Toshi (Masi Oka). While exploring the area beneath the thermocline, their submersible is attacked by an unseen creature, and the ship is damaged so it can't surface.

Mac and Zhang then go to Thailand, to ask Jonas, who now spends all his time drinking, to come lead a team to rescue the team that has been trapped. He is insistent that he will not do it, but eventually they manage to convince him. Meanwhile, Suyin takes a submersible of her own to try to rescue the team, herself. She's attacked by a giant squid, which is then eaten by a megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark thought to be extinct for millions of years. When Jonas arrives, he tells Suyin to surface, while he conducts the rescue. He manages to evacuate Lori (who has been badly injured) and the Wall, but Toshi sacrifices himself to allow their escape. At first, Suyin blames Jonas for Toshi's death, but she soon realizes it wasn't his fault. Also I should mention that Jonas bonds with Meiying, who would apparently like him and her divorced mother to become a couple. Anyway, it later turns out that the megalodon had followed the submersibles back above the thermocline, and now starts attacking Mana One. So they decide they'll have to kill it, to ensure it doesn't attack any of the neighboring countries.

All this is just to establish what will be the main part of the movie, but I don't want to spoil any more details. Suffice to say, the Meg causes a great deal of trouble. I also want to say I think DJ is probably the most sensible character in the movie, because he just wants to get the hell away from the Meg. But he still helps with the others' efforts to kill it. And I'll say that Morris seemed a bit more affable than most billionaires, but ultimately turns out to be rather shady. Oh, and of course Heller finally realizes Jonas was right, and apologizes for blaming him for what happened five years ago. Other than that, I guess I can only say that I found the movie reasonably scary, the story wasn't bad, and overall I liked most of the characters well enough.

Followed by "Meg 2: The Trench"