Meg 2: The Trench

An idiot firmly attached to the Chinese titties full of giggles and with her head buried up to her ears in her ass. There are digital beasts running around in a colouring book backdrop, and it's probably meant to thrill you, scare you, or whatever. Yes, I was horrified by the idea that there are potentially viewers who experience suspense or entertainment at something like this, I'd rather stick my hand in the fishbowl and have my thumb chewed off by a moray eel instead. I like Statham's work, but if some no name Chinese guy took over his role here, nothing would happen. Jason, you're better off in Ritchie's stable, you're too good for this shit. (25.10.2023)

I laughed till my stomach was in knots. Right at the beginning, I realized I didn't remember a thing from the first part. Well, maybe Jason Statham was singing that happy song... So I was surprised to see something being mined in some kind of thermal fissure... a trench that's home to giant squid and bloodthirsty... iguanas? A good half of the film consists of goofing around under pressure (Statham just needs to breathe properly and he won't implode!) and bantering with Jacky Woo for the delight of the Chinese audience. Then the final romp on Fun Island is thoroughbred bloody fun. Statham harpooning a helicopter rotor blade takes on an almost Conan-like mythos. He announces something about dolphins, the credits, the song. Good for me. (21.02.2024)

Jason Statham takes on the ruler of the primordial oceans for the second time. And although Meg 2 is more B-ish and less serious than the first, it's unfortunately not much better. The main problem lies in trying to cram in as many themes, ideas, digressions and horseshit that go nowhere, resulting in a film that is cluttered and at times almost tiresome. And the decent finale is spoiled by childish humour. Even in the context of summer crap, the second Meg is mediocre at best. (03.08.2023)

Unlike the first one, I had fun, unexpectedly a lot. And that's definitely a plus for a film whose premise nobody could possibly take seriously. Meg 2, thanks to its B-movie sincerity, from my point of view trumped, for example, the second and third Jurassic World, and most of all it reminded me of Emmerich's Godzilla. No matter what happens, you know it's going to turn out well, and if the director is smart, he can surprise you a few times; he can afford to make references to Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Lost World and Indiana Jones, and offer some really cool moments, like the one with the camera inside the big shark's mouth. (31.08.2023)

Meg 2 is for me a weaker sequel to the more entertaining first film. Ben Wheatley wasn't the best choice to direct. This controversial director of slowburns and weird indies couldn't bring any spark to an entertaining shark blockbuster. Jason Statham is still likeable and Wu Jing is always a pleasure to see (too bad he didn't get a fight), the rest of the characters don't impress at all. Visually it's ok (the CGI was occasionally jarring, but in a digestible form), but the atmosphere is completely missing, I felt it's not even as suspenseful as the first one (which had countless cool jump-scares too). The humour is not good (in the first one the black guy talking was hilarious), it was a bit drier. It's nice that there are new monsters (the octopus could have been given more space and they definitely could have added more animals from the underwater world), the Megs are fine but I felt like they weren't on the scene as often as I would have liked. The film unnecessarily dwells on the human villains, which no one is curious about. The first half in the trench is fine, but once it moves into the second half the fun drops off, you could definitely feel that Wheatley is not able to make an entertaining film off rails. It's watchable, but a tad weaker than the more entertaining first film. 55% (28.08.2023)