'Meg 2: The Trench' Review: Mo' Megladons, Mo' Problems
Meg 2: The Trench
PG-13: Brief suggestive material, action/violence, language, some bloody images
Runtime: 1 Hour and 56 Minutes
Production Companies: CMC Pictures, DF Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Apelles Entertainment
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Dean Georgaris
Cast: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Cliff Curtis
Release Date: August 4, 2023
In theaters only
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the [series/movie/etc.] being covered here wouldn't exist.
Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) now works for the marine researcher and rescue team Mana One, boarding evil anti-environmentalist ships, kicking the crew's asses, and ending their criminal activities. With cash flow coming from Taylor's stepdaughter Meiying's (Sophia Cai) wealthy uncle Jiuming Zhang (Wu Jing) and billionaire Driscoli (Sienna Guillory), the Mana One base has upgraded their whole game with technologically advanced submarines and exoskeleton suits. On an exploratory mission to the Mariana Trench, Taylor and his team find a secret underwater station where a mining operation led by Montes (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), who has a grudge against Taylor, is in progress. Prehistoric Megs, lizards, and a giant octopus are unleashed after an explosion. On top of that, someone within the Mana team has sabotaged both the base and the explorers. To survive, Taylor and his team must face Montes, his mercenaries, corrupt internal members, and a few prehistoric creatures.
Jason Statham could fight against aliens from Mars, and I would be at the theater opening day. He has enormous charisma and a gruff snarky comedic style that makes him entertaining. In Meg 2, Jason Statham carries his familiar action-hero corniness and charm. This time, the film is actively aware of itself (for better or worse), meaning Statham doubles down on his comedic style. Forget seeing Statham punch sharks; watching Taylor father the precocious 13-year-old Meiying is worth the price of admission. Like in the first Meg film, Statham and Sophia Cai share an energetic and adorable chemistry.
The same sentiment extends to Stathan’s dynamic with Chinese action star Wu Jing, whose character, Jiuming, is overly optimistic as he is accident-prone. Jing easily fits right in, as charismatic as his co-stars. I appreciate that he and Taylor are both Meiying's father figures who get along with each other, even down to parenting her in unison. If it's not Taylor and Jiuming, then it's Taylor and his longtime best friend Mac (Cliff Curtis), for watching them bicker is like watching a long-married couple. No, not in the buddy-comedy sense, but in the low-key queer there-is-no-way-Taylor-is-straight undertone. Don't oppose me because of China's homophobia! I know what I saw!
The Trench embraces its sequel blockbuster identity, reaching greater heights by adding quantity to characters and foes. In doing this, the "plot" is so convoluted that the two halves take on separate identities divided by the midpoint. The first half is an Aliens/Deep Blue Sea clone, and the other is Jurassic World/Skull Island. I found myself latching onto the first half as it retains the same stupid spirit of the predecessor, delightfully delivering its Megalodon vs. unlucky marine researchers promise without telling me to have fun with it. When the scientists find themselves trapped in the titular Trench—evading Cretaceous-period creatures while walking across the ocean floor to a station while oxygen is depleting—director Ben Wheatley (yes, that High-Rise and Free Fire Ben Wheatley) summons his horror skills. The tense, claustrophobic aura he creates where death is around every corner and delivers brutal (if not horrific) deaths earn its PG-13 rating.
While I have issues with the film’s tone, the only horror-to-comedic tonal transition that works is the sea creature-related deaths ranging from innocent bystanders to villains, making for hilarious visual gags. Plus, every stupid moment—from egregiously terrible dialogue and stupid side character actions to awkwardly staged shots—made the movie more entertaining. I consistently cracked up during the first half as Meg 2 introduces the scorned mercenary Montes and reveals his team of Pierce Brosnan-era Bond villain companions, amplifying its silliness. Even without the Megs, which come as an afterthought rather than the focal point, the idiot humans provide enough laughs to carry the film despite the title. For a moment, The Trench became the funniest comedy of the year. But then, as it reached the second half, it was as if the film saw me having a good time and took out its jester fit, unaware that I was laughing AT it, not WITH it.
It's a blast when The Trench plays its dumbness straight, capturing its predecessor's loose tone. The script gains consciousness in the second half and worsens like a Jurassic World sequel. As aforementioned, the film emphasizes quantity and delivers that aspect in the second half, which takes place on a resort island called Fun Island. Whatever characters of the Mana One survive the trench are granted bulky plot armor, fighter skills, and individual spotlights to be action heroes. It’s not just Jason Statham and Wu Jing. It’s EVERYONE. While bobbing and weaving the Grim Reaper, these marine people begin cracking jokes and spewing terrible action quips, and they fall flat.
While the three Megalodons are the main selling point, they are an afterthought, for they have minimal screen time. A Kraken and dull lizard dinosaurs straight out of Jurassic World take their place. Ben Wheatley’s touch is hardly present outside brief horror beats in the first half. It’s the typical by-the-numbers studio direction you’ve come to expect out of these summer blockbuster movies. To say The Trench becomes a cartoon from there is an understatement. Mediocre CG quality aside, it’s insulting how often it asks its audience to believe the heavy plot armor everyone wears. The movie itself heard somebody in the audience call it campy and forgot that part of what defines campy is the lack of awareness of the tone.
I need every action blockbuster that disregards physics to stop this trend of having comic relief characters recite the hero's dumb plot and question it. The awareness alone takes me out of the experience, and my brain activates. Page Kennedy's DJ does this many times. However, he's also the film's sole ex-machina, surprisingly kicking mercenary asses. I can't do another exchange where somebody points out the foolishness of a plot only for another character to go, "You have a better idea?" That's only asking me to activate my brain, which I left at the auditorium door, and that campiness pivots into obnoxiousness. This movie features Jason Statham on a jetski shooting explosive harpoons at multiple Megs. I'd rather keep my brain off.
While it features cool shark kills, and the cast joyfully commits to the silliness, Meg 2: The Trench's focus on additional foes was the wrong area for its teeth to sink into. Along with a jumble of familiar ideas and tonal inconsistencies, this scattershot blockbuster lacks the chomp of the first.
