THE MEG

I love this movie so much. And I love Jason Statham. But it is nothing like the book. The similarities consist of: 

A FEW OF THE CHARACTERS HAVE THE SAME NAMES

The main character, Jonas, obviously has the same name. But the only other character who has the same name is Dr. Heller. In the book, DJ is supposed to be Masao Tanaka’s (Zhang in the movie) son, Terry Tanaka’s (Suyin in the movie) brother. DJ’s book character doesn’t exist in the movie and neither does Mac’s, so they just gave those names to other people. 

I also want to mention that Terry (Suyin) is younger in the book and doesn’t have an ex-husband and kid. I love Meiying though. She adds a lot to the movie. And I love her relationship with Jonas. It’s so sweet. I also think Terry (Suyin) being older makes the age gap between her and Jonas less severe (and less weird). That’s nice.

Another major character introduced in the movie is Morris, the investor. He can maybe, very distantly, be compared to the Japanese organization helping to fund Masao’s project… but not really. He’s funny though. 

THERE WAS AN INCIDENT THAT CAUSED JONAS TO STOP DEEP SEA DIVING

The incident in the book happens when Jonas is helping the Navy with a dive in the Mariana Trench. He sees ‘something’ and freaks out, then takes the sub up too fast. The two other scientists with him end up dying because of it. In the movie, Jonas is more of a rescue diver and was on a mission to help the people on a nuclear submarine. He ends up saving 11 people, including Dr. Heller, but his two best friends (among other injured/probably already dead crew of the sub) don’t make it. ‘Something’ was attacking/crushing the sub. In both the book and the movie, everybody blames Jonas for people dying, and they think he’s crazy.

There could also be a very distant comparison here between the incident on the nuclear sub in the movie and the Navy taking out a nuclear sub to try to kill the meg in the book. 

THE MEG ESCAPED THE MARIANA TRENCH

While the movie’s purpose of diving in the Mariana Trench was to prove that the bottom of the ocean floor wasn’t actually the bottom, the book’s purpose was figuring out what happened to the data collecting robots that they placed at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. 

The book and movie are fairly similar in their description of the Mariana Trench and how the meg is essentially trapped there by the cold water between it and the surface. There’s black chemical filled hot water (looks like smoke) coming out of ‘mountains,’ there are giant squids, and there are talks of landslides.

In both the book and the movie, the meg(s) escape the Mariana Trench and are free in the ocean. In the book, the female meg escapes by actively feeding on the male meg that’s being towed up by the boat. The trail of the male’s blood is warm enough for the female (pregnant) meg to survive escaping through. In the movie, the exploding submarine mixed with the chemical smoke stuff caused a lot of heat that made a pathway for the megs to get through. 

THERE WAS MORE THAN ONE MEG

In the movie, Jonas and the gang kill the meg. And they think, ‘that’s the end of that.’ But it wasn’t. There were two megs. They killed the smaller of the two which then got eaten by the bigger meg (it was referred to as a female a few times). In the book, the female ate her mate as she was escaping the Mariana Trench, like we talked about in my previous point. But… the female was pregnant. She birthed three baby megs, two boys and a girl. She ate the runt boy, the other boy got attacked by multiple packs of whales, and the girl ends up captured in the giant cement tank (Masao’s pet project—the tank, not the shark) at the end of the book. 

Can we also just take a moment to think about how disturbing that all is. 

Ok, moving on.

LOTS OF PEOPLE DIED

This is a shark story. They mean business, and a lot of people die. DJ (from the book) dies in the Mariana Trench, which is comparable to Toshi from the movie. And… that’s probably where my direct comparisons end. The Wall and the investor (Morris) die in the movie. Dr. Heller dies in the movie. I’m fairly certain he doesn’t in the book. His brother dies. He was part of the failed nuclear sub excursion. Zhang dies in the movie. He (Zhang/Masao) isn’t well at the end of the book, but we don’t know if he dies. I guess Jonas also isn’t well at the end of the book and we don’t know what happens. But, come on. There are so many more books. He can’t die. Jonas at the end of the movie is very alive and well. 

THER'ES A MOMENT WITH A CLEAR SHARK CAGE

In the movie, after putting a tracker on the meg, Suyin gets in a clear shark cage to shoot the poison into the meg. In the book, Jonas’s terrible wife, Maggie, gets in a clear shark cage to try to get video of the meg. She’s a reporter. She hates Jonas and is trying to ruin his life and divorce him. His movie ex-wife, Lori, is way better. And more sane. And probably didn’t cheat on him with his best friend. Back to the shark cage, Maggie’s whole point of using it is that it looks clear on video—like she’s out there with the shark in no cage. I thought it was a fun similarity that the movie used that type of cage and the meg almost swallowed it. 

PEOPLE TRY TO BLOW THE MEG UP WITH DEPTH CHARGES

In the movie, the investor tries to blow up the meg with depth charges, but they end up killing a whale. And that all leads to Morris being eaten by the meg himself. Sad. In the book, Dr. Heller, the ex-Navy captain (Danielson), and Jonas’s cheating friend (Bud Harris) have a moment of trying to blow up the meg with depth charges. 

JONAS WAS HEROIC

While I’m the first to admit that Jonas’s characters in the book and the movie are very different, he does have some heroic and selfless moments. Book Jonas is Dr. Jonas Taylor, a meg researcher and nerd. He’s an ex deep sea diver with some non-heroic qualities. Movie Jonas is… Jason Statham. He’s funny, sarcastic, and heroic to a fault. He’ll step into danger every single time just so somebody else doesn’t have to. Book Jonas did jump off the boat to help save some people once. And he killed the meg. Selflessly. By driving the submarine into its mouth, getting himself swallowed, carving his way out of its stomach, and cutting out its heart. With a fossilized meg tooth. Wow. Did he live up to Jason Statham then? Yeah. Kinda. 

JONAS KIND OF SORT OF HAD A RELATIONSHIP-TYPE-THING WITH TERRY/SUYIN

In the movie, Jonas and Suyin become close. They also have way more moments in the moive than they had in the book, and I love that. He also bonds with Meiying, Suyin’s daughter. The movie ends with them discussing going on vacation. 

In the book, Jonas is dealing with his crazy wife part of the time. But after she gets eaten (oh, no!), he shares some moments with Terry. They joke about going on a vacation when all is said and done. They do have a bigger age gap which I don’t necessarily love, but I think I’ll get over it. Terry is very concerned for Jonas at the end of the book when he is not well after ascending to the surface too fast. 

JONAS GOT STUCK IN THE MEG'S MOUTH FOR A WHILE

In the movie, Jonas gets almost crushed in the meg’s mouth while he’s in the glider. In the book, after ripping out her heart, Jonas has to fight his way back out of the meg’s mouth. He spends some time between the meg’s teeth in an escape pod. 

THE MEG JUMPED OUT OF THE WATER

I love how the movie included the meg jumping up out of the water. It happens multiple times in the book, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the movie.

THE MEG SANK WHEN IT DIED

While other scientific moments from the book were ignored in the movie, like how the meg was supposed to be albino and GLOWING, the meg did sink when it died. It was repeated many times throughout the book that sharks sink when they die, so that’s what would happen to the meg. And it did. 

THE HELICOPTERS CRASHED

In the movie, during the final battle with the meg, media/news helicopters are drawn to the action and start circling above the ship/the submarines/the meg. Because there’s so much chaos, and they’re so distracted, the helicopters end up crashing into each other and one falls on the ship. That’s not exactly how things go in the book, but it has the same energy. The same vibe. At the end of the book, when Jonas and the gang are trying to get the meg back to the ‘giant aquarium,’ they have a lot of spectators: whale watching boats, news boats, and helicopters are involved. When things take a wrong turn, there’s mass chaos with people crashing into each other everywhere. 

CONCLUSION

Like I said in my review of the book, I will always argue that one should watch the movie before reading the book in order to be able to enjoy the two stories separately and not be disappointed by the movie. That really worked out for me here, and it’s why I love the movie even though it’s completely different than the book. It’s awesome! The movie is a lot funnier, it happens in a shorter time period, it focuses on killing the meg instead of trying to capture it, and it includes some characters that I’m quite fond of. And… Jason Statham. Yes. What more do I need to say?