- Release Date: 03/08/2023
- Cast: Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Cliff Curtis, Sienna Guillory, Shuya Sophia Cai
- Director: Ben Wheatley
The first ‘Meg‘ film was a surprisingly satisfying and tense adventure with some genuine stakes and an exhilarating climax. It was this film, its returning principal cast and a promise of a similar adventure that piqued my interest in the latest “Meg 2: The Trench”. I did realise just before going to see this film that this installment was not directed by Jon Turteltaub, the man behind the “National Treasure” series, which remains one of my favorite adventure films and easily one of the best goofy Nicholas Cage performances from the 2000s. This realisation immediately dampened my excitement for the film, as I knew that in the hands of a lesser director, the story of the meg and its attack would end up being another run-of-the-mill creature adventure with nothing memorable to take back home from it.
The fact that every subsequent trailer of the film got increasingly worse, and there were a few glimpses that felt almost assembly line-like, my interest in the film was rapidly dwindling. Probably that was one of the major reasons why I had an almost good time with this film. “Meg 2: The Trench” on any other occasion would be loathed by me or any other thinking movie-going audience but it wasn’t today.
The film picks up after the events of the first film. Jonas (Jason Statham) is now an eco-warrior, dedicating most of his time and skills to tracking down ships and crews that are polluting the sea and endangering marine life. Jonas returns to Mana One, the base of operations and scientific discovery in and around the Mariana Trench from the first film. Mana One is now led by the son of the scientist who ran it previously. Jonas was romantically involved with the daughter of the scientist and after her death, has taken on the parental responsibilities of her teenage daughter to a certain extent. Things take a turn for the worse when Jonas, along with a host of other characters, some old and some new, embarks on a deep dive into the Trench on an exploratory mission. This dive triggers a series of events that lead to three Megs making their way to the surface. If you thought that the megs were the only prehistoric life posing a threat to humanity in this film, then think again.
As expected, director Ben Wheatley neither possesses the flair nor the audacity of Jon Turteltaub, and it is his confused and halfhearted approach to the film that renders it generic, unremarkable, and, in certain portions, boring. While the film is nowhere near as bad as some of the great Hollywood films of this year turned out to be, it is in no way as good as its predecessor. Speed is definitely on its side; the proceedings are fast, and the story moves from one conflict or predicament to another quickly. The escalation of risk for the characters is also ever-increasing, making some portions of the film interesting. Sadly, the film feels tonally so different in its two halves that it loses whatever little credibility it built up with some serious deaths and genuine perilous moments in the first half.
In the second half, the film makes it a point to mock the great beasts that it wanted its viewers to respect in the first half. The three Megs are treated with so little respect and fear by even the most inane cast member that it becomes impossible to take the risk with any amount of seriousness. As a result, the narrative and the set pieces get completely drained of any tension or genuine thrills. Yes, the visuals look good in certain portions, and the CGI looks extremely pedestrian in some parts, but the creature violence remains consistent throughout.
“Meg” or “Meg 2” are not the kind of films where Jason Statham can truly shine, yet he does enough to keep his audiences hooked. He is easy on the eyes, looks great in the action sequences, and delivers his lines with his trademark style and swagger. Jing Wu, as the new leader of Mana One, was the surprise package for me. While he has received both appreciation and ridicule for his performances in the Wolf Warrior franchise, which is China’s answer to the American Rambo series, he is surprisingly enterprising and charming here. He portrays a character who enjoys taking unnecessary risks and isn’t afraid to do certain things just to prove a point. We see his character go through a semblance of an arc as he is thrust into one predicament after another, where he stands poised to lose the last person he truly loves. I also enjoyed his brand of unsubtle comedy, which worked well with the character he was playing.
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As for the rest of the cast in the film, they are not even worth mentioning. They are either there to be eaten by the megs or simply to add to the numbers. The worst among them are the people playing the antagonists in the film. The writing for these characters is so poor, generic, and uninspiring that it felt inadequate even in a film about a mega-shark eating away people with a hero running after it on a jet ski with a modified harpoon to kill it. This also brings me to the climax of the film, which was so underwhelming that I couldn’t hide my disappointment. The way the Megs are killed off and how easily it’s done felt extremely unsatisfying and borderline stupid. Additionally, I felt that the visual work involving the Megs was not up to the mark when it came to size and scale. The Megs felt bigger when they were shown in the trench, but by the time they made their way to the surface, their scaling and size were oddly diminished. This problem recurred throughout the second half of the film.
If you walk into this film with no expectations and decide to just go with the flow, you might end up enjoying it. As I mentioned before, the film never bores you too much, nor does it take itself too seriously. It has its share of moments that are executed well enough to merit some credit. However, better writing and a little more seriousness in the second half would have benefited it immensely. Additionally, the climax needed to be a lot more tense, and there should have been genuine threats to the principal cast of characters. Having said that, ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ is still a watchable film if you know what to expect from it.
Rating: 2/5 (2 out of 5 Stars)
The views expressed in this article are that of the reviewer and do not reflect EastMojo’s position
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