The Meg 2: The Trench – A Terrible B-Movie Sequel

The first The Meg was a big, loud, and incredibly stupid shark movie which managed to somewhat entertain in spite of its badness, intentional or not. A B-movie for sure, at least it had some self-awareness and buy in from the rest of the cast as it never tried to be something more than it was. That being said, this path is a fine line, living on the edge of good or bad. Bad films, either intentional or not, can still be good granted it doesn’t go off the rails and then there’s no redeeming qualities to merit any kind of entertainment. The sequel, The Meg 2: The Trench, takes the premise of the franchise in a different direction that sidelines what is arguably the main attraction in favor for an overly convoluted story that only pushes audiences further away. Its chronic disinterest in giving audiences what they really want will definitely be a test as they are forced to endure a dull story and characters until anything of value actually happens but for most, it will simply be too late. While it may look good, its God-awful script did not give it any chance to succeed. In the end, what truly matters is one’s tolerance level of the film’s badness.

The details behind the convoluted story of The Meg 2 essentially don’t matter. Deep sea diver and marine eco-warrior Jonas Taylor (Statham) was back it with much of the same team of scientists as they continued their advancements in protecting oceans and all ocean life. For the them, the next big challenge was to explore The Trench, an uncharted area making up the deepest parts of the ocean. The team’s expedition down below quickly erupted into chaos as they somehow uncovered a rival operation that looked to plunder the ocean floor for its riches. Triggering a battle for survival, each faction must not only face each other but the bevy of predators living within the very depth they sought to explore. As the film aimed to establish stakes pre-dive before manufacturing tension post-dive, it dragged while going in the polar opposite direction of what audiences want. Along with dragging, the film is both dull and derivative and its characters are thin and uninteresting. In order for whatever happens or doesn’t happen to the characters and those stakes to mean something, there has to be some sort of an emotional connection there which was not the case here.

The final third of the film, and the one most prevalent across its trailers, delivers more of audiences arguably want but again, it was too little, too late as the fight move to the surface where plenty of insanity ensued. The climax is big, loud, and stupid, offering plenty of fodder for the megs and various creatures that made their way to the surface. Admittedly, there’s some entertainment to be found within the craziness but it does get repetitive very quickly. However, it is beautiful to look at with the tropical resort setting offering a vibrant array of color that provide a nice contrast against all the chaos and destruction. On the other side, being derivative and predictable, the final outcome was never in doubt as there was little in the way of tension or suspense to be had, not that it ever strived to be anything more than mindless chaos for the sake of mindless chaos. While the sheer mindlessness of it all is likely to be enough for a lot of audiences, it lacked the fun to make it work.

In terms of performances, the commitment of the cast is commendable thought the aforementioned God-awful script did not do them any favors. Taking what was meant to be a ridiculous premise in a serious direction proved to be the wrong choice but Statham, and his trademark energy and screen presence, was one of the film’s few saving graces. This is despite the fact that he is merely recycling the same role he has placed countless times before in countless other films, a lot of them better than this one. For the most part, the rest of the cast doesn’t matter.

At the end of the day, The Meg 2 is exactly what one would expect from a sequel of a stupid cheese fest. Like the first film, this one had no business being near the 2-hour mark but unlike a film that was so bad that it was good, this one is just bad while giving audiences less of what they want.

still courtesy of Warner Bros.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.