If audiences found The Meg to be an outrageously fun experience that's unashamed of what it wants to be then they'll be enthusiastic to discover that it's sequel, Meg 2: The Trench is even more bonkers than the first while fulfilling its promise of delivering relentlessly campy fun that makes for ideal late summer popcorn entertainment. Released five years after the original Meg became an unexpected box office smash, the sequel brings back Jason Statham as the main lead and delivers twice the mayhem though with less of a bite this time around.
Based on the 1999 novel The Trench by Steve Alten, Meg 2: The Trench has a group of scientists led by Jason Statham's character, outrunning the titular Megalodons when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Meg 2 doubles down on the craziness of the first and feels even more absurd this time around with it delivering utter chaos in an extreme fashion, that draws comparisons to films such as Sharknado and Piranha. For those who've enjoyed the first film, they know what to expect here given that the sequel doubles down on the originals craziness, though doesn't quite feel as focused and narratively straightforward as the first.
When it comes to performances, The Trench's stacked cast proves reliable in selling the absurdity and campiness of the plot. Jason Statham is charismatic as fearless scientist Jonas Taylor, whose now Meiying's stepfather since the events of the first, and the husband of the late Suyin Zhang. Statham is convincing here and channels his Transporter action hero persona, while being shown fighting environmental crimes. Statham is given strong support from Wu Jing and Shuya Sophi Cai who both give strong performances as Meiying's uncle, Jiuming Zhang, and Cai as the latter's niece and Jona's stepdaughter, Meiying. Other notable additions to the cast include returning faces including Cliff Curtis as Mana One operations manager, Mac, with Page Kennedy providing the comedic relief as DJ, an engineer at Mana One, Sergio Peris-Mencheta as mercenary, Montes, who's in charge of illegal mining operations, and Jess' partner, Skyler Samuels as Mana One Worker, Jess, whose actually part of Monte's mercenary group and a high ranking executive for Driscoll, Melissanthi Mahut as security officer at Mana One, Rigas, and Sienna Guillory as billionaire investor, Hillary Driscoll who is financing Jiuming's efforts in the Mana One. With a plot like The Trench's, the cast is always a key ingredient in bringing believability to the story no matter how silly things come across, and thankfully, Meg 2's talented ensemble comes through in adding more excitement and fun to the plot with everyone putting their comedic talents on full display.
Replacing original Meg director Jon Turteltaub is Ben Wheatley, who keeps the adrenaline rush high while maintaining the same B movie energy that made the first such a surprise hit with fans. Much like the original Meg, the sequels violence remains intense despite considerably less blood and gore this time around. What audiences are given is a culmination of people being eaten by multiple sharks and other creatures that outnumber what's been shown previously. We see characters masks implode along with slick martial arts moves that are mostly performed by Statham's character. Some of the films more visually stunning sequences include a fight between a giant shark and Octupus, that becomes one of the films key set-pieces with extreme over-the-top moments that include a shark being stabbed by a blade from a crashed helicopter. At 1 hour and 56 minutes, Meg 2 remains fast-paced with the action and story never letting up nor slowing down long enough for audiences to grow bored. Whereas Wheatley demonstrated himself as being skillful at generating monster mayhem, he leaves audiences feeling somewhat underwhelmed at times by the film's mixture of uneven CGI work that either looks convincing or just appears as being rather poor. Although he delivers on the promise of presenting audiences with more Megalodon creatures, his work doesn't feel as well-polished as Turteltaub's.
With any Meg or shark type story, the expectation should always be to completely shut one's brain off and just go along for the ride as both the writing and characters are presumed to be thinly developed in these kinds of films with logic being completely non-existent here. Whereas the original had a certain level of seriousness to it in addition to being extreme in nature, the sequel abandons that serious tone and goes all in with being completely ludacris. What helps the characters feel a bit less one-dimensional here is the background that audiences already have of them from the previous Meg, though the script makes some questionable choices here such as killing off Suyin's character in between both movies without much information given regarding her death. Statham's character Jonas is shown to be going to great extremes to protect the environment and ecosystem with him going full Transporter in doing so against corrupt forces. The returning faces from the first Meg help in establishing a certain level of continuity with both films while providing the film with fun comedic bits. As far as the creatures go, Meg 2 gives audiences multiple monsters that are giant and terrifying with human versus creature fights that will leave audiences laughing and cheering, especially with some of the films shocking kills that occur on screen. Despite being a monster movie, fans will undoubtedly get a kick out of witnessing a Megalodon eating an unlikeable character.
Whether one enjoys Meg 2: The Trench ultimately comes down to their liking of the first one. If you enjoyed the first Meg and embraced it's absurd style of monster mayhem then the chances are you will also enjoy the sequel, though find it to be a little less satisfying this time around.
Final Verdict: Worth a watch if one enjoyed the first Meg.
Images courtesy Of Warner Brothers Pictures
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