certain characters that aren’t going to make it, and just seems to run on bit of much of an autopilot routine. Like many out there, if you have seeing movies like these before (and pretty much you have) you know what to expect, with little to no surprises. Thus, everything is pushed forward and operating on a such a formulaic touch that it becomes lacking in surprises and innovation. Part of the problem of this comes from Wheatley’s direction, which doesn’t seem to going too well and lacks a certain type of finessing, even with this project having that goofy nature of being a bit “over-the-top”. Yes, Wheatley does give viewers what they want from the movie, but everything else is too underwhelming and almost too cartoon-ish, lacking the sense of grounded realism as if the movie was a cheesy “B Movie” endeavor and lacking the necessary charm to be considered likeable. Furthermore, the overall “absurdities” that are scattered throughout the movie is a bit too much at times, with Wheatley trying too hard to crank it up. I was expecting some silly moments, but Wheatley comes a little bit too much for it, which results in many sequences that implement such absurd and goofy moments coming off as cheesy and bad.
The other problem comes from the film’s script, which was penned by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, and Dean Georgaris. The problem with the script is that it comes off as too many ideas and not enough time to fully encompass them within the feature’s runtime. From Jonas become a eco-savior against big corporations to nefarious plotting against financial backers to a secretive mining operation on the ocean floor to a luxury vacation destination under attack, the movie has a plot of subplot material to unpack, yet the script does little to full go in-depth of such nuances and merely glosses over the surface of everything. This result in the movie having a very flat and carboard sketch presentation that doesn’t know how to approach certain ideas, which makes the movie feel very confusing (at times) as to why they were put into the story from the onset. By removing one or two of these, the script could’ve expanded upon those ideas to add more dynamic layers to the plot. Sadly, it does not and makes The Meg 2 feel half-baked. Like the characters themselves, the script’s dialogue is quite thin and flat, which has plenty of goofy and cheesy one-liners that tries to be amusing, yet comes off as bland and dumb. So, most of the dialogue lines (be it normal, heroic, or comedic) is very clunky and wooden throughout.
Also, the CGI effects were a bit jumbled throughout their renderings. Some parts worked quite well and did showcases the formidable size and power that these underwater predators have to offer, but, other times, it looks a bit too dated and comes across as bad CGI constructs, which is strange because the film’s budget was quite large and hefty.
Lastly, the film has a jarring effect as it transition from the second act to the third, the feature almost switching gears to a new location and new feeling, which was something I wasn’t expecting. While that expectation can be seeing as a bit “welcoming”, the truth of the matter is that it feels very confusing and questionable. In fact, the third act of the feature feels almost like an idea from a completely different movie that was jammed in The Meg 2’s story. The end result is quite clashing in the changing of gears, which doesn’t bode well, especially when introducing new side characters and a new location. It’s just very off-putting and doesn’t seem to go along with the film’s first two acts.
The cast in Meg 2 feels lacking, with most of the cast hamming it up within such thinly sketched characters that populate the feature’s narrative. As mentioned above, I sort of knew that this movie wasn’t going to be case, especially how the first film played up the characters, so it didn’t bother me greatly, but, on the other hand, I was definitely expecting a bit more than what was presented. Leading the charge in the movie is actor Jason Statham, who returns to the project in reprising his lead character role (from the previous Meg film) Jonas Taylor. Known for his roles in The Transporter, Crank, and The Expendables, Statham has certainly made a name for himself in the action film genre, appearing constantly throughout many projects over the years and “banking” on the action fighting skills to make for such a “larger-than-life” hero lead. Thus, to see Statham returning to playing such a character like Jonas Taylor, a nonsense individual who knows how to handle such underwater predators of the deep, is indeed a welcoming sight. For his part, Statham does what he does best when he’s on-screen and plays up the strength and steely demeanor that Jonas has. Plus, Statham can always handle himself in whatever action scene he’s in and does do a fair amount of them in the movie; providing plenty of stunts and fights that are customary to actor’s signature bravado. The problem is that the character of Jonas Taylor is a bit too broad and doesn’t really have much depth or understanding beyond a few snippets here and there. He’s like the classic action hero, which is probably what Wheatley, and his team were going with, but ends up making for a rather bland and generic character. So, while Statham is solid in the role, the character of Jonas Taylor seems rather formulaic to the touch.
The next important character in the movie would be Meiying, Jiuming’s niece and Jonas’ stepdaughter, who is once again played by actress Shuya Sophia Cai (Mr. Conman and Somewhere Only We Knew). The problem is that the character of Meiying is your typical “young child in danger” archetype that always gets into trouble and mischief and needs help rescuing her. So, the character becomes a bit too repetitive throughout and grows stale. It’s not for a lack of trying from Cai’s performance, but it’s not enough to make her rise above those criticism tropes. Additionally, actor Jing Wu (The Wandering Earth and Wolf Warrior 2) does a decent job in playing Jiuming Zhang, Meiying’s uncle and owner of Mana One. For his part, Wu makes the character likeable in his various scenes in the movie, but it was anything to rave about. He was there, he did a relatively okay job in the movie, and that was it. Nothing really good or bad.
Who actually makes the biggest impression (beyond Statham) in the movie would have to be actor Page Kennedy (The Upshaws and S.W.A.T), who comes back to reprise his Meg character role of DJ, an engineer at Mana One. Unlike the first movie, the character gets a bit more “to do” in the film and has a bit more comedic parts throughout, which Kennedy does play up in a hammy sort of way. It does get a bit repetitive and annoying at times, but I think it was probably a bit more necessary to add some comedic levity, despite come off as a bit choppy at times. Additionally, who also returns from the first film is actor Cliff Curtis (Risen and Avatar: The Way of Water) by reprising his character Mac, Mana One’s operations manager. Like before, Curtis does a solid job in playing the character and does get his moment to shine here and there in the movie’s story. There isn’t much to Mac in the film, so he doesn’t really grow or change in the feature, yet Curtis still does a commendable job in playing his part in The Meg 2.
Perhaps the absolute worst character in the entire film would have to be Hilary Driscoll, a billionaire woman investor who is financing Jiuming’s efforts in the Mana One, and who is played by actress Sienna Guillory (Eragon and Fortitude). Why is she the worst? Well, to put it simply,…..she is so over-the-top and obnoxious. I know that’s what the script was trying to go for, but it comes off as way too cartoon-ish and stupid. Right from the get-go, the movie makes it quite clear that Driscoll is a bad guy (even though they try to hide the fact until later on) and it becomes so blatant and ridiculous that it becomes a total distraction whenever she’s on-screen. What makes it worse is in Guillory’s performance, which is disappointing because I do like her as an actress, but what’s presented in the movie is quite horrible and awful to watch. It’s so over-the-top and cringeworthy. As a side note, actor Sergio Peris Mencheta (Rambo: Last Blood and Resident Evil: Afterlife) does a mediocre job in playing bad guy Montes, a mercenary in charge of illegal mining operation on the ocean floor. Mencheta gets the job done as the main henchmen goon, but the characters comes off as too goofy at times and cheesy.
The rest of the cast, including actress Skyler Samuels (Scream Queens and The Gifted) as Mana One worker Jess, actress Melissanthi Mahut (In Transit and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey) as security office at Mana One Rigas, actress Whoopie Van Raam (Counterpart and Bulletproof) as Mana One diver Curtis, actress Kiran Sonia Sawar (Truelove and Pure) as Mana One diver Sal, and actor Felix Mayr (The Palace and Wendehammer) as Mana One diver Lance, are delegated to minor supporting roles in the movie. While the acting talent behind these character is okay, majority of these players are, more or less, your standard characters that will meet some type of untimely demise and nothing else. Lastly, there are slew of other unnamed characters that appear in the film’s third act (too many to mention), but, like the rest in this category, are merely there for cannon fodder or to be put in peril / harm’s way for predator encounter sequences.
FINAL THOUGHTS
To find out more of these subterranean creatures as well to test new tech to deal with such threats, Jonas and his team venture into the ocean depths, uncovering a plot of corporate takeover as well as new and fearsome menace to survive against in the movie Meg 2: The Trench. Director Ben Wheatley’s latest film doubles down on the violent encounters and deadly sharks from the first installment and gives the feature a boost in crazy antics and goofy self-awareness that tries to emulate a parody throwback of survival and danger. Unfortunately, despite some adequate moments of action and carnage, the movie itself underwhelmingly bad and tastless with very little bit, especially after factoring Wheatley’s direction, a bland story, wonky third act narrative, superfluous subplots that don’t go anywhere, formulaic plot progression, too much goofy absurdities, bad attempts of humor, and undercooked characters. Personally, I didn’t particular care for this movie. Much like what I said above (many times), I knew that the movie was probably going to be this way, so my expectations for this sequel to be quite low. Even still, I was expecting something far better than what was the movie actually was. The story was jumbled and very hodgepodge, the writing for the feature was bad, and the character themselves were one-dimensional. The absurdity of many scenes were also a bit too goofy and cheesy and (to me) lacked any type of fun that the film was trying to project. I didn’t particular care for the first Meg movie, but (at the very least) is far superior in being coherent and put together than this follow-up installment. Thus, my recommendation for this movie would be a hard “skip it” as it really does have much in the way of entertainment nor any type of redeeming qualities. If you like predator survival type features, you can find something better than this particular endeavor. Even if you are a fan of Statham, you’ll enjoy one of his other movies out there than this one. In the end, Meg 2: The Trench tries to find its footing with absurd nature of shark encounters and deadly survival prowess, but it ends up being a rather dull affair with plethora of unhumorous bits and a patchworked shark frenzy sequel.
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