The Meg (2018) Saturday Monster Movies

The Meg swims in shallow intellectual waters, but like many of the Saturday Monster Movies, its plot still brushes against some deeper human questions: Questions about our relationship with creation, our desire to conquer nature, and the fine line between exploration and arrogance. It’s a popcorn movie, yes, but one that accidentally stumbles into Genesis more than once.

From the beginning, the ocean is presented as a mysterious and hostile realm. It contains unknown beasts, ancient dangers, and forces beyond human comprehension. This reflects a very biblical picture of “the deep.” In Genesis 1, the Spirit of God hovers over the tehom—the deep, dark, chaotic waters. In the Old Testament imagination, the sea often symbolizes that which is wild, untamable, and dangerous in creation for humanity(see Psalm 104:25–26; Job 41). However, it is never a threat nor an equal to God.

Humans in The Meg do what we often do: we pierce the deep and believe we can master it. Our technology lets us descend further, dig deeper, and assume control. But we are not sovereign. We are explorers in a world not of our making. The sea may let us in but it will not submit to us.

Much of the catastrophe in The Meg is born from pride. The research team is so focused on discovery that they ignore warnings and underestimate the risks. Billionaire Jack Morris funds the mission not for truth, but for prestige. The scientists are smart, but naïve thinking they can poke into the oldest parts of creation and suffer no consequences.

This is a modern echo of Babel. Humans attempt to ascend, or here descend, beyond their bounds, reaching for knowledge and dominion without reverence. Scripture warns that such overreach leads to downfall. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” And Romans 1 describes a people who, “claiming to be wise, became fools.”

The Megalodon becomes the consequence of overreach. It’s a fictional creature, sure, but it represents a real spiritual warning: creation is not tame, and those who forget that may find themselves devoured.

The biblical idea of dominion in Genesis 1:28, “fill the earth and subdue it” is not a license for exploitation or conquest. It is a call to steward God’s creation with care and humility. The humans in The Meg begin with dominion distorted: they assume control, expect safety, and act with hubris.

But by the end, the survivors have been humbled. They learn that control is fragile, that nature is unpredictable, and that some monsters can’t be caged. That’s an echo of biblical wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). True understanding begins not in bravado but in awe.

The Meg doesn’t claim to be a philosophical movie. It’s about a giant shark and a tough guy with a harpoon. But even that story,when watched through the lens of Scripture, reminds us of our place in creation, our tendency toward pride, and the danger of forgetting our limits in a world we didn’t create.