4DX is the best way to watch Jason Statham’s new giant shark movie, ‘The Meg’

Warner
Bros.

• Jason Statham’s new giant-shark movie, “The Meg,” is a
  fun action movie, but is best seen in 4DX, where the seats move
  and you’re sprayed by water.
• The water effects were a tad disappointing, but you’re
  not going to find that in any other theater
  experience.
• The movie is best seen in a theater with an engaged
  audience looking for a good time, and 4DX heightens
  that.

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The new giant-shark movie, “The Meg,” from “National Treasure”
director John Turteltaub, is a dumb, fun action movie that’s
perfect to end the summer with. And if you’re willing to shell
out $30 a ticket on a movie where Jason Statham has a “Star
Wars”-type battle with a shark (under water, of course), then 4DX
is the best way to watch it.

A 4DX theater tries to replicate the environment in a movie to
the best of its ability with water, scent, wind, and light
effects. In a movie like “The Meg,” where a lot of it obviously
takes place under water, you get sprayed and dripped on. The
seats move and vibrate during action-heavy scenes, too, and it’s
all in 3D.

“The Meg,” in case you’re unfamiliar, follows a former diver
named Jonas Taylor (Statham), who is brought back into the game
to stop a prehistoric, giant shark that has escaped a newly
discovered region deep within the ocean. Who discovered it and
set off this terrifying chain of events? Scientists at a research
facility funded by an arrogant billionaire played by Rainn
Wilson.

“The Meg” is already an entertaining movie, but 4DX makes it more
enjoyable. The water effects were apparently maximized to their
full potential for the movie. The effects didn’t quite live up to
my high expectations (I guess I anticipated being soaked). In
fact, I think the most I felt water dripping on me was during a
scene where Jason Statham takes a shower, which was odd.

But you’re not going to get sprayed by water in any other
theater, so it’s tough to complain. You have the option to turn
the effect off, but who would want to do that after dropping $30
on a shark movie? Just make sure to bring a sweatshirt, because
it will get cold. 

Regal
Cinemas

4DX is most fun in a theater with an invested audience. The
audience in my theater was fully into the human-eating,
shark-fighting goodness, and people lost their minds during a few
key scenes.

Remember when Samuel L. Jackson gave a rousing speech in “Deep
Blue Sea” and is suddenly eaten by a shark mid-sentence? I’ve
never trusted a scene since where a character is standing by him
or herself facing a group of people. They either get eaten by a
large animal or hit by a vehicle, and in the case of “The Meg,”
the worry is obviously that they will get eaten by very large
shark. 

There’s a few scenes like that in the movie that make you cringe
with anticipation, and it delivers for the most part, albeit
nothing like that scene in “Deep Blue Sea.” The movie is mostly
predictable in that sense, and hits all the familiar beats of a
movie like this. But the best thing about it is that it works. It
gets off to a slow start, and I found myself wondering “is this a
giant shark movie?” a few times in the beginning. But once it
delivers on the giant-shark promise, it never lets up. 

Would I have enjoyed it as much if not for 4DX, though? Probably
not. Jason Statham fighting a giant shark, while also trying to
be charming, can only go so far.