Meg 2: The Trench
review by Bobby Blakey
I am a huge fan of action star Jason Statham and will watch anything he does. Typically he is more known for his martial arts action flicks, but in 2018 he brought his action chops to the water for the shark attack flick The Meg. Now he is back once again for Meg 2: The Trench co-starring Jing Wu, Cliff Curtis, and Sienna Guillory with Free Fire director Ben Wheatley in the directors seat. Could this next chapter bring more fun shark attack fun or will it sink to the bottom of the ocean?
Meg 2: The Trench follows Jonas who is brought back to the water with a new team as they lead a daring research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean. Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Pitted against colossal Megs and relentless environmental plunderers, our heroes must outrun, outsmart, and outswim their merciless predators in a pulse-pounding race against time.
One of the concerns heading into this film was it just being a rehash of the first film which I had a great time with, but would it fall into the hole that the JAWS sequels did? It was obvious from the trailers that they were bringing way more to the mix this time around than just the megalodon. They stepped things up for this film and threw everything at it they could find including more than one meg and a giant octopus. It is all sorts of cheesy fun, but all this is also the reason the film is hit and miss as well.
This film is way bigger than the first film in the amount of creatures but also in scope and visuals. There is numerous underwater sequences complete with full
on action in the trench itself that is pretty fun even if the effects are hit and miss. That is one of the biggest issues here as they went so over the top with stuff and CGI heavy that it doesn’t always work. Obviously it is needed for this kind of things, but there are numerous times that it just looks more video game like than movie like.
The tone of it all is also pretty cheesy which isn’t a bad thing since it is fully embracing the movie it is, but it never allows it to feel like there is any real depth or stress to it. The subplot of the take over of their operation feels forced and is a waste of time as they had a decent enough adventure just dealing with the underwater chaos alone. This is a usual trope to these kinds of films, but harder to buy into the guy more focused on shooting Statham during the chaos than the actual megalodon trying to destroy everything.
In the end it is a fun flick if you can just let it be the cheesy creature feature it is and not looking for anything of real substance. It is reminiscent of films like Sharknado and Mega Shark with a bigger budget and talent, but not too far removed.
In addition to the feature this release offers up bonus content including featurettes behind bringing this new entry up from the depths. Grab your copy of Meg 2: The Trench available now on digital and streaming on MAX as well as on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on October 24th from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.