Meg 2: The Trench Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 56 minutes, Director – Ben Wheatley

Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) uncovers both an illegal mining operation at the deepest, deadliest, point of the ocean, and three megalodons.

2018’s The Meg was very much what you expected it to be. A slightly silly summer actioner fitting in with its premise of a long-believed extinct megalodon shark attacking seagoing holidaymakers, with Jason Statham leading the fight against it. Now the sequel, with three times the megalodons, is upon us. Marketed as a much more self-aware film matching the ridiculousness with a grinning sense of humour it turns out that Meg 2 is also exactly what you expected the first film to be.

The tone treads the middle ground between seriousness and silliness, often leaning more towards the former in the first half as Statham’s Jonas Taylor leads an expedition-gone-wrong into The Trench – a layer below the ocean where all kinds of prehistoric creatures reside. It’s a long walk, with jumps back and forth between multiple characters and strands building up to the eventual discovery of an illegal mining operation. A villain is built-up only to be revealed as a quickly disposed of plot point. Everything is simply building up to the second half, and largely the megs making their way to sea level and a new group of tourists trying to enjoy a getaway.

As the action plays out the absurdity of the situation is leaned into. Statham gets some amusing one liners as he carries around metal bars with bombs attached to them in the hoping of defeating the giant sharks. Yet, there are still multiple supporting characters – and a not-quite-villain – to cut to. It causes proceedings to feel busy and overstuffed as the B-movie style action plays out. As a schlocky B-movie Meg 2 works well. Generally fine, if lacking, amusement for the time that it’s on; but certainly something which feels as if it’s largely building up to the main spectacle of Statham riding a jetski across a wave towards a megalodon (undeniably the coolest shot in the film, with a number of others hindered by dodgy CGI).

It’s an action sequence which doesn’t rely on heavy close-ups on characters in bulky costumes, meaning that you can’t entirely see what’s going on in the moment or the scenery which they comment on being so eye-catching. This is a key frustration of the early stages as the plot plods along waiting to properly kick in. However, if I said the film as a whole felt two hours long I’d be lying. Yes, there are plenty of bumps and issues along the way, but it generally goes by well enough in terms of time, and perhaps a lot of this is down to the B-movie tones which are featured throughout, and the style of the third act which sees Jason Statham go from Shark Puncher to Shark Kicker.

Meg 2: The Trench is a busy film with multiple characters who all seem to be there to add seriousness to what should be a slightly sillier film. Luckily, the second half recognises the B-movie nature that should be present and brings enough silliness and schlock to make for an amusing enough sequel.

★★★