Of course this doesn’t follow from the last movie, not even the post credits scene implying a kaiju encounter next time… but it wasn’t completely off, because now we have the main monster facing against a robot version of itself, made a classic trope by Godzilla Vs Mecha Godzilla decades ago.
Kinda surprised it took until the third movie in the series for this direction, honestly, but i guess third time is the charm, and very welcome given the series quality so far.
And if you’re expecting it to rip-off any of the Godzilla movies involving Mechagodzilla (in any of his versions/models)… it kinda happens. Sure, nothing blatant, since Toho is famously litigious about his radioactive giant dinosaur and all his profitable trademarked friends, but some beats are taken, and thank god, because they help bringing some fun to this series.
The plot sees the title Mega megalodon shark being accidentally released from a huge iceberg, brought by boat in the port of Alexandria, and (after causing a long range decapitation of the infamous Sphinx of Giza via slingshotting a boat) the shark begin terrorizing the seas, forcing ports to lockdown and affecting the economy. The U.N. is called upon and fins the solution in form of a new weapon, a prototipe submarine called the Mecha Shark, made in the shape of the megalodon, equipped with a special A.I called Nero by the two pilots/scientist called on to fight the Mega Shark, who keeps appearing all over the world and causing thousands of deaths at sea,
Yeah, this shouldn’t follow any continuity, since clearly the megalodon can’t be the same that sunk into a sea vulcan (still biting the Crocosaurus) and became “frozen in carbonite”. But Debbie Gibson is back from the first movie, playing the same character who remembers of the previous megalodon accident, and the tv announcers talk of another megalodon, so whatever, it’s a sequel, to the first or second movie, maybe both, who cares, it doesn’t really matter.
Especially since this time it’s actually a fun one, i don’t why we had to wait until the third one, but with Emile Erdmin Smith at his directorial debut and a script that actually cares about the stupid premise, doesn’t spend much time in pointless filler, but gets right to the points, manages to have a bit more plot than usual, and utilizes his tools well, with a benign HAL-9000 like IA, the Mecha Shark eventually going rogue, plot points that make some sense and build up to something, even managing to have some funny self-aware (but not TOO self-aware) moments, and entertaining action scenes that benefit some an expanded budgets, so the CG isn’t great, but it’s noticeably better than in Mega Shark VS Crocosaurus.
And the main leads are actually likeable, not original or deep, but surprisingly likeable (even more because they are playing a couple), most characters are likable or not hostile or stupid for the sake of it, so the attempts at drama makes some sense, even if they don’t exactly have much impact, they actually have some impact and try to make it work… some of the walk on roles try a bit too much (like the interviewed fisherman who breaks down in an impotent cry of despair at the shark, didn’t expect that), but even at his worst, Mega Shark VS Mecha Shark comes off as charming, because it’s devoted to be fun trash cinema. And as i’ve said before, this isn’t a given anymore.
Usually i’d make fun of the cast clearly not being to happy to be in an Asylum production, but oddly enough we have people who had and still have career, especially the lead characters, played by Christopher Judge of Stargate fame (and having also voiced Kratos in the 2018’s God Of War sequel) and Elisabeth Rohm, who the same year starred in American Hustle, was in Lake Placid The Final Chapter two years prior, and was in Jay Roach’s Bombshell last year.
A decent b-movie that actually embraces its stupidity, love his bullshit and actually cares to entertains all the way through. But of course, another Mega Shark movie was almost a given, and materialized itself in 2014, with Mega Shark VS Kolossus.
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