JAWS FOR THOUGHT

saturated with digital effects, which are notable by their poor execution.

Leading man Jason Statham glowers on cue and removes his shirt for a gratuitous topless scene to verify he is in excellent gym-toned shape even if his film is bloated.

Dr Zhang (Winston Chao) and his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing) oversee the Mana One research facility financed by bullish billionaire Morris (Rainn Wilson), which is located 200 miles off the Chinese coast.

The state-of-the-art facility – currently under construction – will allow scientists to conduct experiments in hidden nooks and crannies of the Mariana Trench.

During one exploratory dive, the Origin submersible piloted by Lori (Jessica McNamee), Toshi (Masi Oka) and Wall (Olafur Darri Olafsson) is attacked by an unidentified beast.

The stricken crew should have 18 hours of auxiliary power and oxygen so Dr Zhang and Mana One’s station chief Mac (Cliff Curtis) make haste to Thailand to persuade underwater rescue expert Jonas Taylor (Statham) to return to the deep.

“Your ex-wife and her crew are trapped,” bleats Mac, who knows about Jonas’s tragic past and his medical diagnosis of pressure-induced psychosis.

Jonas obliges for the sake of Lori and he comes stubbled face to slippery snout with a voracious megalodon, which threatens the safety of everyone inside Mana One, including Suyin’s cherubic daughter Meiying (Sophia Cai), systems architect Jaxx (Ruby Rose) and remote craft pilot DJ (Page Kennedy).

“Man versus meg isn’t a fight. It’s a slaughter!” snarls Jonas, baiting the hook for outlandish scenes of carnage.

The Meg swims in frequently charted waters and Turteltaub’s film pays homage for extended periods to Steven Spielberg’s vastly superior Jaws.

Statham almost convinces us of a tepid romantic subplot with Bingbing’s plucky mother, who singlehandedly bears the film’s emotional weight. She is compelling in underwritten scenes of parental concern that provide us with brief yet welcome respite from the monster-mashing mayhem.