The Meg was mindless fun, but not something either of us will likely watch again.  Decent action and some beautiful underwater shots, but this didn’t seem to bring anything new to the shark genre.  We did love Statham, though.

Lessons Learned from The Meg

It is another world down there. It’s worth studying, but not worth risking your life or dying for.

• It’s great checking out a trench nobody’s been to before.  But we have unmanned drones for a reason, people!

The billionaire should keep himself way out of harms way and off in a helicopter or a control booth of some sort.

• Morris (Rainn Wilson’s character) screwed up by getting in on the shark-chasing action by being on the water instead of flying safely above it.

Learn to swim, especially if your gig involves bodies of water.

• Taking a middle-of-the-ocean based job without swimming skills?  Not too bright, guy.

Kids hear everything.

• Yep, 8 year-olds are ever-present and it’s easy to forget that their ears are always perked up to the happenings around them.

You’re never safe until you’re back on land.

• When you’re dealing with sea-dwelling killers, don’t rest until you’re back on land.  Even if you think there’s only one of them around.

Hold onto the vehicle before the driver accelerates quickly or the momentum will throw you overboard. 

• Morris screwed up again (and cost him his life) when he failed to remember boating safety 101 and hold on when boats accelerate.

Learn more about this movie from IMDB.

Critics and audiences are pretty simpatico on this movie with scores of 47% and 56% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sky has chosen Blended as the next movie we’ll learn from.

If you missed it, last week we discussed lessons learned from Mission Impossible: Fallout.

The Equalizer 2 was good, but didn’t bring much new to the table that we didn’t see in part 1.  We discuss both of them and the lessons we took away in this episode.

Lessons Learned from The Equalizer Parts 1 & 2:

Always be aware of your surroundings.

• Know where the entrances and exits, the people in the room and any possible threats. Also, look for weapons to defend yourself with.

Be who you are in this world.

• Be proud to be the person you are. Play to your strengths and be happier.

Always negotiate anything you have to pay for.

• Miles and Robert haggled back and forth on the price of the paining and they both got a fair deal. Just ask the question, “Are you flexible on that price?”

If you can do something about it, do it because you can.

• Robert helps because he’s got the skills.

Don’t pick a fight with an unknown entity.

• Denzel might seem like easy pickings, but you learn to your detriment that he’s anything but.

Progress, not perfection.

• This is what we should all strive for. Just a little better every day.

You can be a victim or learn from your painful experiences.

• “There’s two types of pain: pain that hurts and pain that alters.”

Always be nice to anyone that has access to your toothbrush.

Learn more about this movie from IMDB.

Yeppers, like most action movies, the audience scored it higher than the critics.  74% versus 50% at Rotten Tomatoes.

Sky has chosen Mission Impossible: Fallout as the next movie we’ll learn from.

If you missed it, last week we discussed lessons learned from Skyscraper.

Skyscraper was a fun yet seen-it-all-before summer blockbuster movie.  We loved The Rock and the death-defying action in this ‘Die Hard’ repeat.

Lessons Learned from Skyscraper:

When you make the best decision you can with the information you’re given, accept the outcome.

• Poker players (like Sky) have to deal with this in every session they play.
• Sawyer made a “correct” call to not shoot the father during the hostage situation.  

Always try the easy way first.

• Sawyer quickly popped the unlocked cockpit door open instead of having to smash it open, saving a little bit of time.

If you’re going to die anyway, take as many with you as you can.

• Sky liked seeing the head of security taking out the helicopter and pilot in order to ruin the bad guys’ plan.

If you have the shot, take it. Don’t hesitate and eliminate the threat.

• Dusty felt that within the initial hostage situation, they should’ve just taken out the father when they had the chance.  You can’t argue with this given how the situation resolved itself. 

Keep guns in your safe room.

• It’s a no-brainer to have weapons for self-defense (just like Zhao Long Ji did). If they find out how to open the door, you’ve gotta have a backup plan.

 Don’t give over complete control of your $6.5 billion security system to anyone.

•  Terrible idea of giving Sawyer that tablet that can bring everything down.

Never build a safe room because, as movies will show you, have safe room… will use.

 Teach your kids to run away from men with guns.

• Stranger = danger and men with guns = danger. It’s easy for a “nice” stranger to win the trust of a child.

Learn more about this movie from IMDB.

Yep, as expected there’s a hug gap between critics at 49% and the audience at 79% Rotten Tomatoes.

Dusty has chosen The Equalizer 2 as the next movie we’ll learn from.

If you missed it, last week we discussed lessons learned from Ant-Man and The Wasp.