Meg 2: The Trench (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – A research team encounters multiple threats while exploring the depths of the ocean, including a malevolent mining operation.

My Take – Released in 2018, after weathering a troubled 22 yearlong development cycle, The Meg proved to be a blockbuster earning $530.2 million worldwide. Unsurprising as right from the opening scene to its freeze-frame laugh of an ending, the film managed to be a ridiculous crowd-pleasing summer shark film, with director Jon Turteltaub squarely balancing the tone between self-awareness and self-seriousness.

Simply told, the film was basically what an entertaining Jason Statham vs a prehistoric shark tale would look like, with a slab of B-film cheese. With that kind of success, it guaranteed a sequel, especially considering how it had plenty of material to pull from, as author Steve Alten’s novel series is seven entries deep as of this year.

Taking over the reins this time around is Ben Wheatley, the English writer-director who has made a name for himself by helming a string of challenging indie films like Kill List (2011), High-Rise (2015) and Free Fire (2016), who along with writers Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber and Dean Georgaris clearly aimed to double down on the unapologetic escapism of its predecessor.

But while the canvas is bigger and the threat meaner, the sequel does not fully exploit it, fails to play to its strength and reach its potential. Resulting in a generic creature feature with a predictable premise and stereotypical characters. Leaving it to Jason Statham to rise to the occasion.

Yes, it is not a completely a wasted experience and there are entertaining moments, but the problem with this sequel is that it simply doesn’t try enough to entertain. It’s bogged down by too many characters, subplots that go nowhere and serious issues with tone, missing out on an excellent opportunity to go full on crazy.

Set five years after the events of the first film, the story once again follows Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham), who along with becoming the guardian of 14-year-old Meiying (Sophia Cai), following the death of her mother Suyin, has continued working for the Oceanographic institute alongside his friends Mac (Cliff Curtis) and DJ (Page Kennedy) under the direction of Jiuming Zhang (Wu Jing), Suyin’s brother, along with performing dangerous environmental investigations exposing illegal dumpers and polluters.

Over the past few years, Jiuming has continued the work started by his father and sister with the backing of billionaire Hillary Driscoli (Sienna Guillory), which includes the successfully capture of a Meg named Halqi, who Jiuming has been training despite Jonas’s concerns. But as the group embarks on a routine submersible exploration from the Mana One research station to the Trench, they end up stumbling across a conspiracy with far reaching implications that unleashes the threat of the Megs once again on humanity.

The biggest problem with the sequel in general. It has a bit of an identity crisis and forgets it’s a monster film. The Meg scenes aren’t just enough. Spending more time delving into the deeps that the first film only scratched the surface of, director Wheatley had a chance to create something fun and unique here as our main ensemble go to previously unexplored depths but once we enter into the black abyss after a strangely exciting intro section, the film gets bogged down into a CGI heavy slog that goes for far too long, leaving the films bonkers and insanely over the top finale with too much work to do to salvage a film that wasn’t able to give us enough of what we wanted to see for too many minutes of screen-time.

When you bring in a mega octopus, one expects more out of it yet what we get is lame underwater shots which simply doesn’t do anything. The whole greedy villains’ thing is so one toned that in a creature flick, it sticks out as a sore thumb. But even that carnage can salvage the film. The heroes wage war against Megs with homemade explosive spears while riding personal watercraft like spring break jousters, and yet there’s no lasting impression left by the violence.

The gore of the film is PG-13 tame and entirely animal-related, a complaint the similarly rated first film dodged thanks to thicker tension, intense thrills, and far tighter tonal command. A few chills are felt when a Meg swims out of The Trench’s pitch-black shadows and right past the cast, but there’s hardly any horror elsewhere.

There’s no doubt the film knows what it is, every few minutes there’s a quip, an unbelievable moment or Jason Statham being Jason Statham but there’s no denying that this is one of director Wheatley‘s least inspired film yet, delivering nothing more than a few moments of fun in an otherwise bland and washed ashore refuse of a feature. You can see the big, loud, stupid shark film in there, trying to get out.

Performance wise, Jason Statham is his usual autopilot awesome self. Wu Jing, despite an underwritten role, manages to steal the film from Statham many times. Cliff Curtis, Sophia Cai and Page Kennedy make for a welcome return. While Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels and Sienna Guillory, are decent enough. On the whole, ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ is a generic creature feature that wastes whatever potential it had.