Director Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) strikes an agreeable tone, avoiding both unnecessary heaviness and self-aware camp.

Asks little more of you than to strap in, put away your phone and enjoy watching a freakishly huge prehistoric eating machine terrorize some scientists before it turns its appetite to a beach full of frolickers on floaties.

...exactly what we paid for.

The Meg is an enjoyable movie if you don’t go in with lofty expectations for a movie about a giant shark that eats a bunch of people. It is the epitome of general audience popcorn fair, and an amusing spectacle.