Meg 2: The Trench 🦈🌊 REVIEW:

Jonas Taylor leads a 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, prehistoric sharks and relentless environmental plunderers, they must outrun, outsmart and outswim their merciless predators. Ben Wheatley takes over the director’s chair from John Turteltaub in this sequel to the 2018 Meg film, with Jason Statham returning as rescue diver Jonas Taylor. I had the privilege of attending a special early screening of this film at a “Jaws on the water” event this past Saturday, and everyone seemed to have a great time with the movie, including myself. A few days later, the predictably negative critic reviews of the film surfaced on the internet, and the divide between general movie goers and professional critics had never been so clear to me. As someone who has a giant soft spot for dumb cheesy Shark movies, it’s fairly difficult for me to give a serious review on Meg 2: The Trench. This is one of those movies that you have to know what you’re getting into, or you’ll probably lose your sanity.

Statham once again proves he can lead this franchise as Jonas Taylor, getting a lot more opportunities to get in on the action, whether it’s fighting generic villains or doing battle with 80 foot sharks. This time around, Taylor has a nice little father/daughter dynamic with Shuya Sophia Cai’s Meiying from the first film, which gives the shark fighting daredevil just enough depth for the viewer to care. Cliff Curtis and Page Kennedy return as Mac and DJ respectively, and the two of them are fun supporting characters that serve as Taylor’s loyal friends/teammates. Kennedy’s DJ in particular has quite a few funny moments that gave the movie just the right amount of comic relief. I mean, the script itself is quite bad, but it kind of works because of how straightforward and direct the performances are. Some viewers will be bored throughout the first half, for it’s a lot of exposition and deep sea exploration, relying on suspense, tension, and a slow build up. I actually really appreciated this approach, as it gave way to explore the trench and the prehistoric creatures which preside in it.

There are three Megs in this film, and it was nice to see that at least one of them gets to be somewhat of a “protagonist.” If it sounds like this doesn’t make any sense, it’s because it absolutely does not. This is a movie where Statham literally holds his breath for a whole damn minute 25 thousand feet below sea level, so take that as you will. Wheatley’s direction is noticeably a lot more energetic and lively than Turteltaub’s, which allows for the unapologetically absurd third act to go all out in its ridiculousness. Statham’s on a jet ski going to war with the Megs, Mac and DJ are shooting CGI dinosaur looking creatures, and there’s even a Kraken that terrorizes a poor little vacation island. Of course, an R rating with more blood and gore would heighten these moments, but nonetheless it’s all over the top mindless B movie fun, in my eyes at least. The final showdown between Statham and the Meg is worth the price of admission alone and delivers on exhilarating evasive jet ski maneuvers and a couple of badass fatalities.

Look, the dialogue is laughable, the story is thin, and there is nothing outright special about Meg 2. It’s dumb, illogical, idiotic, and nonsensical, but it never loses sight of being exactly what is. A fun guilty pleasure shark movie with no agenda other than giving audiences a good time at the movies. Unlike so many current agenda driven movies that try to hammer home the message, subvert expectations, or remind us of the drab realities of everyday life, Meg 2 is purely delightful escapism from all of that. Keep in mind, no one is paying me for the reviews I write. I’m not some pretentious corporate shill who can be bought or bargained with, so when I say I enjoyed this stupid bad movie more than some of the recent critically acclaimed films (Barbie), I genuinely mean it. Overall, even if it lacks the extra bloody bite an R rating would’ve given it, MEG 2: THE TRENCH is nonetheless exactly the sort of ridiculously silly guilty pleasure (so bad it’s good) B movie it should be, delivering on an entertaining supporting cast, more shark action, and a badass lead hero once again in Jason Statham. From now on, I am going to start incorporating the rating of “Guilty Pleasure” for bad movies that I happen to like.