Meg 2: The Trench (2023): Jaws But Bigger Again
Look, you did not walk into a movie about prehistoric murder sharks expecting Shakespeare, and thank goodness, because what you got instead was Jason Statham punching a megalodon in the face. Yes, that happens. But here is the thing nobody is talking about: this sequel actually understands something its predecessor completely missed.
The original Meg played it frustratingly safe, treating its absurd premise like a straight faced disaster movie nobody asked for. This sequel throws that playbook into the trench and dives after it headfirst. You get underwater bases, giant octopuses, and mercenaries who exist purely to become shark food. The body count is gloriously irresponsible. And then it hits you. Director Ben Wheatley, the guy behind Kill List and High Rise, is steering this ship. So why does the first hour feel like watching someone else play a video game you cannot pause?
What Is It About
The setup is simple enough. Jonas Taylor returns to the deep sea research station, now babysitting his stepdaughter while investigating illegal mining operations on the ocean floor. Standard sequel housekeeping. But here is the thing. The movie splits itself into two wildly different films. The underwater half crawls through murky action sequences you can barely follow. The surface half unleashes pure chaos on a beach resort called Fun Island. One of these works spectacularly. The other almost sinks everything.
Plot Holes and Things That Make No Sense
Okay so Jonas and his crew are stranded on the ocean floor with ruptured suits and failing oxygen, yet somehow they walk miles across the trench like it is a Sunday stroll through the park. The bends apparently do not exist in this universe. Then there is the mercenary villain who conveniently knows exactly where the research team will surface despite zero communication and an ocean the size of, you know, an ocean. My favorite though: the megalodons breach the thermocline barrier that supposedly kept them trapped for millions of years because the illegal miners cracked it open, but then these same sharks navigate directly to a crowded beach resort like they have Google Maps installed. Also Jonas holds his breath underwater for roughly the runtime of a sitcom episode. The man has lungs that would make a blue whale jealous.
The Good, The Bad, The Honest
The Fun Island massacre is genuinely thrilling mayhem, a 20 minute stretch where Wheatley finally unleashes his inner B movie madman. Jet skis explode. Tourists scatter like screaming confetti. Statham rides a megalodon while stabbing it with a spear. It is stupid and glorious and exactly what the trailer promised. But getting there is a slog. The underwater sequences are murky, overlong, and edited like someone dropped the footage down a staircase. The villain is discount James Bond reject. Wu Jing deserves better material. Cliff Curtis deserves to survive longer. The film works in bursts but cannot sustain its own ridiculous energy.
Cast and Direction
Statham delivers exactly what you hire Statham for: stoic one liners and the physique of a man who could wrestle a submarine. He is not acting so much as existing menacingly. Wheatley meanwhile feels caged, his signature weirdness suffocated by studio demands. You sense him straining against the leash, occasionally breaking free during the carnage, then yanked back into mediocrity.
How It Ends
Jonas kills the final megalodon by ramming a helicopter blade through its skull while riding on its back. The illegal mining operation is exposed, the villain gets eaten mid monologue, and the surviving crew watches from shore as the last shark sinks into the bloody water. Jonas shares a quiet moment with his stepdaughter, suggesting found family blah blah blah. The film earns its ending in the sense that you always knew Statham would punch his way to victory. But the emotional beats feel tacked on, the stepdaughter relationship never developed enough to matter. The thermocline rule gets abandoned entirely by the finale, sharks appearing wherever the plot needs them. It is satisfying spectacle built on narrative quicksand.
The Verdict
The single best thing this film does is remind you that blockbuster cinema can still be deliriously, unapologetically dumb fun. Final verdict: a messy, uneven creature feature that peaks during its final act and coasts on Statham's sheer gravitational pull. Skip it and you will never know the specific joy of watching a man weaponize a megalodon against another megalodon. That sentence alone should be enough.
Is Meg 2: The Trench (2023) worth watching?
Yes
Meg 2: The Trench (2023) scores 7 out of 10 on SpoilSins, and the one-line verdict is "Yes". Below the SpoilSins median of 7.5: 20% of the 109 films scored here rate lower.
7/10 the SpoilSins score
- Released
- 2023
- Genre
- Action-Adventure, Horror-Thriller, Sci-Fi
- Reviewed by
- Broikos Nikos,
- Scale
- Out of 10, and what that means, against every score on SpoilSins
