Jason Statham is suffering from the Dwayne Johnson syndrome & no matter in whatever movie he is, it feels like he’s coming straight out of the Fast & Furious franchise!
Star Cast: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Cliff Curtis
What’s Good: This makes ‘The Meg’ look like it’s Jaws!
What’s Bad: It follows Kong’s formula of “put everything wild in the mix & make it look fun”, except it messes up with the ‘fun’ part
Loo Break: Yes, whenever you want to, and you won’t miss a thing
Watch or Not?: If you’re on a flight and this is the only movie they’ve to show, get some sleep
Available On: Theatrical Release
Runtime: 116 minutes
User Rating:
Five years after punching the bad shark in its face, Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is back to once again go “It’s a Megalodon” on us. Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing) is dead, and her daughter Meiying (Sophia Cai) is now being a pain in Taylor’s a** asking him to show her the trench as if it’s Disneyland.
Her uncle Jiuming (Wu Jing) plays the nepotism card replacing Suyin and inhabiting a Meg named Haiqi, who, of course, escapes his captivity to eat some rich Americans on a private island. But wait, that island isn’t just attacked by multiple megs but also many otherworldly lazily-sketched characters that attack from the jungle. How Taylor over smarts the Shark once again by killing almost the entire supporting cast and coming out alive is what this film is all about.
Meg 2: The Trench Movie Review: Script AnalysisThe same trio responsible for the prequel has handled the story and the screenplay here, Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber. They reach a position where you start feeling that you can’t probably milk every film’s success out there. Its predecessor Meg, standalone is a fun film that you’d watch and forget it ever existed.
The idea of milking it with a sequel and ruining it so bad that you make a book from 1999 look cooler is where the makers lost the chance of any redemption. Okay, let’s for a moment, think that some production house thinks it’s a great idea and starts looking for people who will support this, at least find a good creative team that would sugarcoat this sour casserole making it into something edible.
Nope, from Haris Zambarloukos’ camerawork to Jonathan Amos’ editing, everything is just on autopilot. You have a book that is now over two decades old, you have a first film to refer to and retain things that worked for it, yet you come out with things that aren’t enough even to keep anyone hooked for more than a few minutes. The shark-action screen space is so less compared to all the corporate espionage bullsh*t that starts to bother you sooner than later.
Meg 2: The Trench Movie Review: Star PerformanceJason Statham is suffering from the Dwayne Johnson syndrome, and no matter what movie he is, he feels like he’s coming straight out of the Fast & Furious franchise. His “It’s a Megalodon” still gets me but the monotonous nature of his character hasn’t done him any favours.
Wu Jing as Jiuming Zhang gets the worst character arc out of all the supporting cast. He gets that character which the makers want the viewers to somehow build an emotional connection with.
Sophia Cai as Jonas’ step-daughter, never gets the substance her character should have, with the kind of humane treatment it could’ve got. Sophia boils down to be the sweet kid she is, nothing more, nothing less.
Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels & Cliff Curtis don’t leave any memorable mark to even mention anything
Meg 2: The Trench Movie Review: Direction, MusicThe last notable thing this film’s director Ben Wheatley directed was Tom Hiddleston’s High-Rise in 2015 (this was the first time I’m hearing about this film though). It’s been quite a few years, and I feel High-Rise will remain to be the last notable thing this director directed.
Harry Gregson-Williams’s background score doesn’t add any curiosity to the already dragging scenes. There are no ‘teeth on the glass wall’ kind of sound design examples, which earlier led to some decent jumpscares.
Meg 2: The Trench Movie Review: The Last WordAll said and done! This Jason Statham starrer joins the bandwagon of creating something unique in the grossly popular sub-genre of Hollywood films, i.e. Shark films; the makers not only don’t add anything new but also ruin the legacy set by part 1.
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