Dear reader, if you have learned anything about me while reading my movie reviews this summer, I hope it is the fact that I like to stay positive and find the upside in movies that might have missed the bar.
“Meg 2: The Trench” is a movie that I would call … unsavory. I went into the theater with low expectations, thinking that this would be a fun movie to laugh at. The whole “giant shark” niche of movies has seemed to be intentionally corny (after the first “Jaws,” that is), but in my opinion, “Meg 2: The Trench” is trying to take itself seriously.
The whole “Sharknado” franchise was intentionally corny and kind of bad, with corny titles like “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!,” “Sharknado 5: The Global Swarming” and more.
This movie had an interesting concept but did not execute it as well as it could have. I have not seen the first “Meg” movie, so I was a little bit confused because “Meg 2: The Trench” seemed to be a direct sequel to the first one. “Meg 2: The Trench” might have occurred a few years later, but it followed the same characters to my knowledge.
The main character, Jonas (played by Jason Statham), works with a corporation that works to protect the world’s oceans, and they have a baby Meg, a megalodon, in captivity. The corporation discovers that there is a layer in the ocean called the thermocline that separates the normal ocean from this area called the Trench, which, unbeknownst to the main characters, is where some megalodons live.
I was intrigued by this idea at first; the thermocline could act as a pathway of sorts between the human exploration of the ocean and the prehistoric era of aquatic creatures.
Instead of focusing on that idea, the movie suddenly pivots to a group of eco-terrorists who want to kill Jonas and the rest of his team so they can mine rare Earth minerals, which kind of misses the idea of the “ahh, this animal/monster is so big!” genre that I thought this movie would be.
While I like the idea of a big shark movie that takes itself more seriously than the “Sharknado” series does, “Meg 2: The Trench” tried to do too much with the plot and kind of muddled itself into a place of weirdness.
A giant squid showed up for a couple of scenes during the movie but was not used to the extent that would have made it a worthwhile addition. On a side note, the giant squid is a fascinating and terrifying creature that could have its own movie in a similar style.
Other than the slightly weird plot, the acting was fine overall; Statham is a very convincing actor for the kind of character that he played.
This movie could use some work and some touch-ups, and I would have wanted it to go in a different direction if I were the director, but alas, I am just a humble movie reviewer.
To put it kindly, “Meg 2: The Trench” would be toward the bottom of my rankings of this summer’s movies, but it might be a fun watch on a rainy day when it comes to a streaming service.
