The Meg 4K Blu-ray Review
By Chris Heinonen on
Audio Quality
Video Quality
Overall
The Meg Summary
A deep-sea submersible—part of an international undersea observation program—has been attacked by a massive creature and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, former deep-sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is drawn out of self-imposed exile by a visionary Chinese oceanographer, Dr. Zhang (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter, Suyin (Li Bingbing), who thinks she can rescue the crew on her own. But it will take their combined efforts to save the crew, and the ocean itself, from this seemingly unstoppable threat—a prehistoric 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. Thought to be extinct, the Meg turns out to be very much alive…and on the hunt.
Five years before, Jonas had encountered this same terrifying creature, but no one had believed him. Now, teamed with Suyin, Jonas must confront his fears and risk his own life to return to the ocean depths…bringing him face-to-face once more with the apex predator of all time.
The Meg Movie Review
No one should go into The Meg expecting a shark movie to rival Jaws for suspense and acting. There’s no hiding the shark here to surprise you as the main surprise is “Will Jason Statham manage to go shirtless in yet another movie?” That surprise I’ll leave for you, but despite this, The Meg was entertaining for the nearly two-hour runtime. There isn’t that much character development, and you are able to predict very accurately what is going to happen for the entire film from the start, but it’s an enjoyable ride for those that want a movie about gigantic sharks attacking people.
The Meg Technical Review
The Meg was shot on ARRI cameras at 2.8K resolution and is presented at home with a Dolby Vision transfer from a digital intermediate of unknown resolution. So while the resolution isn’t 4K, they certainly did a fantastic job on the image making it ready for HDR. The Dolby Vision transfer features a huge amount of contrast, with dark seas up against bright neon lights and bright, vivid colors that use wide color gamut to the full advantage. Details are clean and sharp, but not as razor sharp as the best 4K transfers can be. The only issue with the transfer is that in a few scenes the sky looks a big blown-out where highlights are missing from clouds, but otherwise the image in the film is fantastic.
The audio is even better, with fantastic use of surround and height channels to put you in the film. Sound mixes in confined spaces, like a small craft undersea, usually do a great job of moving the sounds all around and that is the case here. When the shark attacks and there is gunfire or explosions, the subwoofer channel is used extensively with great depth and impact. Vocals are always easy to understand, and there is nothing at all to complain about when it comes to the audio. Overall The Meg is a fantastic title for showing off a home theater.
The Meg Special Features
- Chomp On This: The Making Of The Meg
- Creating The Beast
The Meg Review System
Sony A1E OLED, Panasonic UB820 UltraHD Blu-ray Player, KEF Ci5160RL-THX Fronts, Ci3160RL-THX Center, 2x Ci200RR-THX Surrounds, 4x CI200RR-THX Atmos Speakers, Anthem MRX 1120 Receiver, Power Sound Audio subwoofer.
Pros
A high-contrast, colorful image that looks spectacular in Dolby Vision HDR and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack that is first rate.
Cons
Plot is predictable.
Summary
The Meg isn't the next Jaws, but it's a reasonably enjoyable shark movie that looks and sounds fantastic on disc.
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