Jason Statham’s latest vehicle — this time directed by Ben Wheatley — improves vastly on its predecessor. “The Meg,” while backed by Statham’s star power, felt like a B-movie exercise in banality, and did its best to squash whatever machismo or witticisms Statham tried to bring to the table. And while “Meg 2: The Trench” struggles with an opening and middle act that tries to do the same, it explodes with near 40-minute finale that is nothing short of a pure monster show. That Wheatley was able to switch gears so suddenly — and still have it sort of work — is a testament to his direction. Author Steven Alten (who penned “The Meg” as well as “The Trench,” the source material for this film) remains in the writing background.
The film brings back Statham’s Jonas Taylor — and I still smirk in delight at the ridiculous Biblical reference to his character. We see him as he’s attending a fundraiser/launch party with Jiuming Zhang (Jing Wu), the head of a research institute that’s doing what it can to protect the ocean and Marianas Trench. They have one megalodon in captivity, named Haiqi, who we learn answers to some strange underwater whistle Zhang uses to (calm it, I suppose?). At any rate, Zhang, Jonas, Jonas’ adoptee Meiying (reprised by Shuya Sophia Cai), and others descend to the bottom of Marianas Trench to do some scientific stuff with super-powered ocean suits designed to take on the Trench’s massive 25,000+ depth.
Villains and Double Crosses Better Left Elsewhere
There’s also a villain at the Trench, the psychopath Montes (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), who’s pirating rare metals from the ocean floor worth billions. We see how cold he is when he blows up some fellow pirates when they’re discovered by Jonas’ party to cover up their crime. The ensuing chase sequences — involving double crossing, military raids, and explosives — while the megalodons in the Trench swim aimlessly — is where the film lost its grip for me. Here I was, thinking Wheatley was doing just what Turtletaub had done before — taking the monster element out of things and inserting confusing human plots into what ought to be a shark-a-thon. However, I will say one sequence — as the group walks across the ocean floor — is magical and beauteous. The surroundings don’t look at all from this world, which is exactly how I imagine traversing the Trench on foot would look, were it possible.
But, all-in-all, these scenes are hard to digest. One often doesn’t know what’s going on, or who to trust (except an excellent Clifford Curtis, who I loved in “Blow” and “Collateral Damage”). There’s numerous double-crosses in some attempt at corporate takeovers to seize control of the company and use it for piracy instead of ocean protection, and at some points I almost stopped paying attention. Here, “The Trench” feels very much like the plot of a bestselling novel and not what one wants to see from a shark movie.
‘The Trench’s’ Finale — a Monster-thon Through and Through
However, just when “The Trench” had me down, Wheatley and screenwriters Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, and Dean Georgraris let it all go. It’s hard to proceed without spoilers, but we mustn’t do that. Suffice to say that Jonas et al. discover that a group of megalodons are headed out of the Trench, steaming toward a tropical paradise known as “Fun Island.” Statham works on constructing explosive harpoons while DJ (Page Kennedy, reprising his role — which he kills) produces a Desert Eagle tipped with “poison bullets, just like in “Jaws 2”), with Zhang along for the ride. An ensuing scened where they fight mercenaries on the Island and later aboard a research vessel that looks like an oil rig are comic and action gold. It feels as though Wheatley just flipped the comedy switch to “on” and let it flow — and for some bizarre reason I can’t explain it just works.
“The Trench” also ups the ante on kills; and even thought the film is PG-13, it rectifies the sins of the first film by flopping down a royal flush of death and carnage that is — I’m delighted to say — just hysterical. The meg eats partygoers by the mouthful; but unlike in lesser movies such as this film’s predecessor, is uproarious and perfect. The film also throws in more than just the meg. There’s also these small, weird CGI creations that are supposed to be dinosaurs, which a T-Rex ate at the film’s beginning when “The Trench” fallaciously implies the mega shark and Rex shared the same epoch. “The Trench” then releases its pièce de résistance — another escaped creature from the ocean depths that I can’t even hint at — it’s that rewarding.
Come for the Laughs and Carnage
And then there’s the fact that “The Trench” goes out of its way to pay homage to the aforementioned “Jaws” franchise, which director Wheatley cites as a “main inspiration” for his megalodon film. There’s so many easter eggs I lost count; but unlike in worse films — like the aforementioned “Pirhana” — these feel like warm homage rather than pointless ripoffs. I’ll also say, that while the film is rife with death in its finale, it earns its PG-13 rating: the gore is minimal, and the deaths quick. This is not a movie to make you cringe, but laugh, and Wheatley knows it.
Should you see “Meg 2: The Trench?” I say yes. If you love B-movie sharkfests you’ll be pleasantly surprised, and if you want to see if the sequel improves on the original, the answer is certainly yes. Statham gets to be badass, his co-stars all put in great performances, and you leave the theater feeling like you got your money’s worth. And seeing as Alten penned five total books in this series, it’s not likely we’ll see the end of Jonas and his sharks anytime soon.
“Meg 2: The Trench” is currently only playing in theaters.
