At this point, Jason Statham has pretty much done it all when it comes to action movie tropes. He’s punched badass men, he’s punched badass women and he’s punched entire groups of badass men and women. Last year we even saw him hold his own against the human monster known as Dwayne Johnson in Furious 7. Just when we thought Jason Statham had nothing left to fight, it turns out that he will soon take on a giant, aquatic dinosaur – because Jason Statham.
Having seemingly gotten tired of destroying human opponents, Jason Statham has now set his sights on a giant prehistoric monster for his next melee. A new report from THR indicates that the modern action icon has signed on to star in the upcoming monster movie, Meg. Although the announcement provided very little in terms of actual plot details for Meg, we do know that the film will revolve around Statham’s character taking on a Carcharodon Megalodon (hence the film's title, Meg) which is basically an ancient Great White shark on steroids.
If the basic outline of Meg sounds ridiculous, then we think that’s a good thing. Jason Statham movies have become one of the most easily reliable sources of bombastically absurd action entertainment over the last few years. From the automobile carnage of Furious 7 and The Transporter franchise, to the literal adrenaline fueled chaos of the Crank films, Jason Statham movies work best when they turn the insanity dial up to eleven and rip the nob off. Our only hope with Meg is that at some point he will make a badass wise crack as he throws a haymaker right into the dinosaur’s face.
Meg probably won’t have a very difficult time finding an audience. Considering the immense success of insane action movies like the Fast & Furious franchise, as well as the recent creature feature Jurassic World, moviegoers want something a little crazier than the grounded gritty features that have characterized blockbusters over the last decade.
Getting Meg off of the ground has become an insane story in itself. The project has reportedly taken almost 20 years to gain any sort of real traction, and has gone through quite a large number of different directors and writers to get to this point. In its latest incarnation, Meg will be helmed by National Treasure director Jon Turtletaub, shooting from a script penned by Jamie Vanderbilt.
Check out the recent trailer for the book upon which the film will be based to get a better sense of the film’s direction:
Any self-respecting action movie buff should feel insanely excited about the prospect of a movie such as Meg. Although the movie remains in the early stages of development, it has all the ingredients of a classic B-monster movie.
