Meg 2: The Trench Review (by TheJonathanSim): Unforgivably Idiotic
One noticeable exclusion from Meg 2: The Trench is Li Bingbing as Suyin Zhang, who was set up as a love interest for Jonas in the first movie. The actress did not return to this film for undisclosed reasons, and this is explained when the movie claims her character died before this film. This could have been used as a key emotional plot point, but it’s only briefly touched on. Her role in the story is replaced by her brother Jiuming, portrayed by famous Chinese actor Wu Jing.
Speaking of the characters, nobody in Meg 2 is interesting to watch. Everyone simply serves as a vehicle for a story that’s not strong enough to compensate. Page Kennedy returns in this movie as DJ, and he gets to fight people and shoot guns in this film. The only reason he knows how to do these things is because the script required him to for the plot to move forward. The rest of the hero characters have very little personality.
As alluded to earlier, Meg 2 takes a departure from the original film. Most of the film is spent underwater with sea creatures showing up every once in a while to jump scare the audience. This film features more of Statham’s combat abilities because the filmmakers decided that a giant shark wasn’t enough of a villainous presence. Instead, this movie throws in a set of human villains — complete with an evil mastermind, a double agent, a long stream of evil mercenaries, and new vicious creatures.
Jonas barely spends any time battling them, either. Because in the film’s final act, it finally remembers to be a shark flick and gives audiences the human chomping they’ve waited for. It feels like a grander version of the finale from the first picture, with more sharks, more creatures, and more characters. All of the action is unforgivably idiotic, and with a hero as invulnerable as Jonas, you don’t find yourself worried about him. He’s Jason Statham: Indestructible Action Hero.
This exceedingly dumb, simple script is the lowest common denominator for a summer blockbuster. Meg 2: The Trench has a few enjoyable moments mainly in the final act, but this is the most reductive popcorn entertainment you can imagine. The story drags in the second act — you’ll wonder how being stuck underwater with sharks could be this dull. Setups and payoffs are uninspired, like introducing a very cool exoskeleton suit that somehow never gets used to take down a Megalodon.
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