- Starring
- Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Cliff Curtis
- Director
- Ben Wheatley
- Rating
- PG-13
- Genre
- Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi
- Release date
- August 4, 2023
Overall Score
Rating Overview
Rating Summary
Megalodons went extinct 23 to 3 million years ago. Until that time, these massive creatures, which could reach lengths of nearly 70ft, dominated the warm waters of planet Earth. However, thanks to global climate change brought on by Fred Flintstone’s SUV (don’t argue with The Science), all that remains of these once magnificent titans are a handful of fossils.
Meg 2: The Trench
Jason Statham returns as erstwhile professional deep sea diver and now MMA oceanic vigilante Planeteer Jonas Taylor. Taking place several years after the events of The Meg, Meg2 finds Taylor and one or two familiar faces conveniently on the staff of The Oceanic Institute of Hainan, China. The Institute, conveniently owned and operated by a convenient never before mentioned super-genius billionaire brother (who-conveniently-happens-to-also-have-a-convenient-affinity-for-oceanic-study) of the now deceased Suyin (Bingbing Li of The Meg), is conveniently in possession of “the world’s only meg bred in captivity” – because… convenience.
When (one-fourth of the way into the movie), our heroes discover that a group is illegally mining The Mariana Trench for billions in heavy metals, the heroic group of scientific researchers must do whatever they can to stop the evildoers… or survive… or defeat the megs… or fight off the Kraken… or do stuff. We’re not sure, but they gotta do somethin’, and it definitely involves off-screen guns, two small explosions, and some flat and out-of-place banter.
The Meg 2 is what you would get if you asked chatGPT to write a screenplay based on a child’s description of 2018’s The Meg. Even though no one was expecting Tennessee Williams from this monster movie sequel, so too no one who watched the fun and bouncy trailer expected this rudderless shipwreck.
Meg 2 lacks any sense of itself and never fully commits to being any one thing. Rather, depending on the given moment and the character(s) upon which the film is currently focusing, its tone sporadically jumps back and forth between The Abyss, Underwater Star Wars, Deep Blue Sea, Lethal Weapon, Godzilla, and Jurassic Park, with just a dash of Free Willy. This total lack of focus makes the already thin narrative bumpy with erratic pacing, poor cohesion, and lackluster scares.
Afterall in a movie called Meg2, which features no fewer than three megalodons, a Kraken, and a host of amphibious carnivorous dinosaurs, one might assume that Meg 2 would be an over-the-top monster movie, and it is… for its last 20 minutes… except when it’s not. Until then, the prehistoric baddies are all but afterthoughts as the heroes do stuff, fight people, and do more stuff.
Not helped in any way by this hodgepodge of genres and story beats, cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos (Thor) fails to provide any sense of visual cohesion or exciting or even shocking moments of suspense or horror. While there are one or two decently “cool” moments (which is all audience members really want from this type of movie), the visuals are mostly unspectacular.
Whereas some movies, like SISU, offer over-the-top and unbelievable action yet remain fun and engaging, and others, like Shin Ultraman, can be so bad that they are good, Meg 2 is so “meh too” that it is barely worth the electricity it’ll take to stream it on your phone. Although, there’s a case to be made that a drinking game could be made out of how many times the words “meg” and “thermocline” are uttered. Just be prepared for a hangover the next day.
WOKE ELEMENTS
Are you kidding me? American audiences were an afterthought for this movie. Do you really think that the Chinese government has any patience for woke nonsense?
- There are an inordinate number of female characters in traditionally male roles in the film. However, none are girl bosses or particularly snarky.
James Carrick
James Carrick is a passionate film enthusiast with a degree in theater and philosophy. James approaches dramatic criticism from a philosophic foundation grounded in aesthetics and ethics, offering insight and analysis that reveals layers of cinematic narrative with a touch of irreverence and a dash of snark.
26 comments
Brent jackson
August 4, 2023 at 5:18 pm
It may not be woke, but I bet I portrays the Chinese as heroic and hustdians of nature, when in fact they are the worst polluters on the planet
James Carrick
August 4, 2023 at 5:20 pm
Fair.
William elliott
August 5, 2023 at 4:57 am
It does. And for the first 30 mins or so it is mostly in Chinese with English subtitles which is quite annoying for a US film. I’ve never seen a film made so obviously for Chinese audiences – not really for Western audiences. Fine if it was publicised as a Chinese film that Westerners might enjoy.
Li BingBing Superfan
August 10, 2023 at 10:54 pm
Inaccurate.
Top countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions (in million metric tons)
1. China – 9877 (Population 1.4 billion)
2. USA – 4745 (Population 330 million)
To put this in simple terms, they have more than triple our population and don’t even produce double our emissions. So if you account for populations…by the numbers..
If we compare CO2 emissions PER CAPITA (based on population 2016)
USA – 15.32 tons
China – 7.44 tons
As you can see, we pollute much more per person than the Chinese do. Simply because we Americans love to use electricity (which produces even more greenhouse gases) to make silly, inaccurate posts about things we don’t really put much thought into. At which point, another silly American, feels compelled (to use even more electricity to emit even more greenhouse gases) to explain why the original comment is wrong.
Mahalo
fat american
August 11, 2023 at 1:45 pm
China has less per capita emissions because its Government represses and discriminates against rural peoples and racial minorities, forcing them to live in abject squalor & poverty, unable to afford electricity and other basic necessities, but hey, at least they aren’t polluting! China’s air is almost 5 times as polluted as the US’s (by PM2.5). The air is so bad that on average it knocks 2.5 years off of each resident’s life. Keep your smog to yourself
Jebediah
August 4, 2023 at 7:01 pm
Megaladons did not exist ‘millions’ of years ago. The Lord created this earth only 4000 years ago, and this woke dinosaur garbage has been indoctrinating our children and pervading our media and schools to destroy the credibility of the Bible. My children are forbidden from playing with dinosaurs; even if they won’t stop crying, they must play with horse dolls instead. It doesn’t stop them from still pretending they are dinosaurs though… Liberal brainwashing is everywhere.
Tracy
August 4, 2023 at 10:16 pm
So, you deny that dinosaurs existed? I wonder which is worse, you lying to yourself and children or actually having custody of your children. 🤔
Jebediah
August 5, 2023 at 3:39 am
All biblical science indicates that NOTHING existed more than a few thousand years ago, before God created the world. ‘Dinosaurs’ are a woke leftist falsehood; any worthwhile minister can go through this if you ask at your church
Kurt
August 5, 2023 at 11:22 am
The person (Jebediah) commenting on dinosaurs being an affront to religion is a left-wing troll trying to make fun of Christians. I’ve noticed several posts in these reviews that are similar to this one. I’m all for free speech and healthy debate but it seems they are afraid to do so. Perhaps some rules for posting might be worth considering.
James Carrick
August 5, 2023 at 12:29 pm
We have some, like no f-bombs, etc. and we block the more vulgar trolls.
Claire
August 5, 2023 at 5:03 pm
Sorry but how is it fair to assume this person is a troll or left wing? Plenty of us hold evangelical beliefs. I’m more open minded now but I was also forbidden from playing with dinosaurs or wizards growing up, and it did me no harm.
Peter File
August 5, 2023 at 6:01 pm
I think there’s room for debate here. The Bible is clear about the origins of life and the world, and the so called ‘scientists’ and movie makers who are keen to peddle ‘pre-history’ are known to have leftist and sometimes Marxist bias like most college educated (indoctrinated more like) people.
Kane
August 5, 2023 at 10:09 pm
As a Young Earth Creationist Christian, I thought I’d chime in with a couple thoughts on this thread and previous statements:
1. While I can’t say for sure, I think Jebediah likely is a troll. Either that or he is mistaken about YEC beliefs. What I mean is that no YEC Christian believes the Earth is 4000 years old (the lowest number posited is about 6000 years, but even that number is likely too small by a few thousand years or so), and also that virtually no YEC Christians, and absolutely no mainstream YEC Christians, doubt believe the existence of dinosaurs. We simply believe they were created on the 6th day of the Creation Week and coexisted with people until their eventual extinction. That leads me into my second point:
2. “We have dinosaur fossils in museums” is not an argument against (legitimate, non-trolling) YEC claims. The debate over the age of the Earth is primarily a exegetical and scientific one. It is exegetical in the sense that it centers partially on the question of whether the Bible allows for the possibility of evolution, old Earth, et cetera. It is scientific in that it partially centers on the question of whether current dating science utilizes accurate methods of determining age. YEC Christians, such as myself, answer “no” to both questions, and furthermore are not bothered by the existence of dinosaurs or their bones for the reasons previously explained.
God bless y’all!
Dean
August 5, 2023 at 4:45 am
At this point I am willing to watch a mediocre film just because it lacks woke elements xD
Matt
August 29, 2023 at 4:13 am
Heck yes. My intelligence may be insulted but at least my sense of civility and decency won’t be.
Bruce Wilkins
August 11, 2023 at 7:37 pm
Honestly I agree
Between Jurassic world and Barney the dinosaur, they really force this anti-biblical stuff on our kids.
Liberalism is a Disease
August 16, 2023 at 3:49 pm
First off, “Dino Deniers” are new to me and I grew up in the Bible Belt. Unlike liberals, I’ll just say let’s agree to disagree and I won’t throw shade at your comments just because I might fight it in competition to my own beliefs or science. I’ll just say “good for you”. One question, though, what are all these fossils that non-liberals find all over the place if not Dino’s? Genuinely curious what the answer to that is. Is it believed these are planted by liberals to screw with us, like Biden or Obama?
Now to break out of the ludicrously long threads talking about whether or not Dino’s are real when this is a movie review….. I took a chance to watch the first Meg and it was pretty much on par with a Sharknado film, except with higher paid actors, better set pieces and better CGI. This is to say it was total crap but not as much crap as Sharknado was.
What I really got out of it was how very tailored to the Chinese it was. They deserve entertainment too, so whatever, but just because Jason Strathom is in it (what cheesy action flick is he NOT in playing the exact same character) doesn’t make it something to watch. He’s had a few good films, the best of which was The Italian Job IMHO.
But, at the root of it, you throw money at this and you give it to China, something I try very hard not to do. Sure, you can’t avoid certain things, but I go out of my way to find American products which is tough and significantly more expensive but I’m not funding those that want to see the US destroyed. For that alone, no Meg 2 for me, despite it just being junk anyway (if I use the first one as my basis).
Peter File
August 17, 2023 at 6:59 am
It’s well known that nearly every scientist and historian in all the universities and institutions are far-left and Marxist – just look at all the so-called research on ”’climate change”’ , or transgenderism, or saying that we all evolved from monkeys. How can we expect these same people to tell us the earth is billions of years old and used to have dinosaurs?
It’s a clear trick by the woke left elite to capture the imaginations of children. and it’s spread through movies, cartoons, toys, EVERYTHING to sow the seeds of doubt in the Bible into OUR CHILDREN. It’s time to wake up.
Jas
August 24, 2023 at 12:42 pm
I could barely stand the original MEG as it was literally Chinese propaganda. The Evil Rich guy was a White American who gets killed, the good people are mostly Chinese except for Jason, who is Australian- the very country China has ambitions for. The Babe is Chinese, the cute kid is Chinese and when they need help, she tells him to call the Chinese Navy.
If the sequel is anything like the original, please tell me so I can pass on it
James Carrick
August 24, 2023 at 1:16 pm
100% more of the same but far less fun.
Trevor
August 27, 2023 at 10:07 pm
It was a fun movie. I expected a goofy popcorn flick with action. It delivered and lots of cheap laughs. Worth it for me. I knew it wasn’t going to be the Godfather, but it’s refreshing just being entertained and not preached at.
kelvin
September 26, 2023 at 11:24 am
Great content, thanks for sharing
Michael
March 9, 2024 at 9:22 pm
Sorry but this movie had woke elements.
There are about two white guys in the movie who aren’t evil. Jason and the guy who is portrayed as a manbaby, dresses up at comicons and who dies.
The start features solely white men who throws radioactive barrels from a ship when in reality most of them would be chinese.
The only white man I could find besides that (besides evil soldier henchmen) is the guy who is a sleezebag at fun island and who asks the chinese women to oil him up.
C’mon….
James Carrick
March 9, 2024 at 9:31 pm
The primary reason that we leave the comments open is so that people can feel free to note anything that they believe that we missed, and help out other potential viewers. Thanks for the comment.