Meg 2: The Trench

I was thinking for half of the movie that it's a clear three-star, just like number one, which I once saw in the cinema and the underwater passages didn't really interest me. But it has a nice visual, the Chinese bundle of money is visible in the movie, and in the end, it turned out that, mainly thanks to the finale, it is such an entertaining stupidity that it deserves this fourth star. Of course, a big draw is also this time Jason Statham, who also demonstrates his martial arts skills here, and his final fight with the meg is definitely worth it and made me laugh heartily. Qualitatively, it's certainly not a well-written blockbuster, but I'm not a critic and I have no problem giving a harmless seven or a movie that is simply a nonsense but I enjoyed it a lot. And if it weren't for the underwater anabasis, maybe I would go even higher, paradoxically, I am higher than with the more down-to-earth number one. Maybe I'll watch it again sometime in tandem, which I can't voluntarily say about many movies I see in a year. (17/09/2023)

When they were looking into the dark with a flashlight and walking on the ocean floor, I was put in mind of the recent and forgotten Underwater and wondered why it didn't add to the number of attractions and hyperbole. And then Jason Statham activated his cheat codes and brought an even bigger fireworks display than I dared hope for. The admittedly popular B-movie approach where the main character is driven to Superman-like abilities, may not be possible to get past, and trying to do so on a scale like this might also be a bit of a pity. (12/08/2023)

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% (27/08/2023)

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)