Movie Review: Meg 2 The Trench

 

Movie Review: Meg 2 The Trench

The first Meg came out in 2018 – in case you missed it, here’s a quick summary.  Undersea explorers accidentally disturb the thermal layer at the bottom of the ocean allowing a giant Megalodon or two to come up to the surface and cause chaos. Jason Statham saves the day. Yes, there’s other plot and cast, but that is all you really need to know. And yes, Pippin returns – but don’t worry, once again – he survives.

This one opens with Statham’s character gathering evidence against companies illegally polluting the ocean while still keeping in touch with the little girl from the first movie – he’s now her surrogate dad, since her grandfather passed away in the first movie and her mother died between films.  Now, she’s a tween with a desire to follow in her mother’s footsteps and join on the expeditions. Her uncle (no, he wasn’t mentioned in the first movie) has taken over the company – or at least part of it, and thanks to some new dive suits, they are continuing to explore the trench – well aware that there are a bunch of Megs down there lurking around.  Oh, and he’s working on training a Meg that he has raised, Haiqi, because that will surely go well.

Well, unbeknownst to our cast of plucky heroes, someone has stolen some of their tech and is drilling down in the trench for rare minerals.  Things go wrong, and once again a hole in the thermal layer allows a couple of Megs, some smaller aquatic dinosaur things, plus something else, to come up to the surface and once again, cause some chaos that only Statham and his diving ability can help solve.

Directed by Ben Wheatley, this sequel has a much lighter tone and less bloodshed, which I did not mind. Honestly, I liked the first one, but I liked this one even better!  I found this one far more fun and better paced.  Everyone in the movie also seems to clearly know what type of movie they are making and the returning cast is having an absolute blast. 

Statham is fantastic once again and Jonas Taylor and who knew I needed him paired with the charming Shuya Sophia Cai as Meiying. They are wonderful together and I bought their relationship.  Plus, kudos to Statham for all that jetski work that apparently he did all himself! 

Page Kennedy is back as DJ as a character who took the lessons from the first movie to heart and has actively worked to improve all skills between movies! 

I knew how much I loved Cliff Curtis in things, and I love that he basically gets to play what seems to be very close to himself in this movie. I did not know how much I would love him paired with Jing Wu.  After the initial malfunctions down in the trench, the second half of the movie is crazy weird fun and the two of them have some truly bonkers sequences with the dinosaurs and a helicopter. Not only do they understand the assignment, but they really seemed to be having a great time.

Haiqi the Meg gets just a little character development, not quite enough to allow her to be the hero of the movie, but she certainly does steal a couple of scenes.  I did appreciate how the multiple Megs in the movie all had different scars so that we could tell them apart. 

Overall, it is some big shark action with some hilarity thrown in – while you may not need to see it in a theater, it’s worth a fun streaming night of creature feature action. It would definitely pair well with Sharktopus. 

8 out of 10

Speaking of Sharktopus – it is a shame the giant octopus was ruined in the trailers and even more of a shame that it really has very little affect on the characters – they do not even blink when a giant octopus shows up and starts flinging people around.  These folks have clearly spent too much time in the Trench.