Review: 'Meg 2: The Trench' impresses audience with larger-than-life action sequences

Meg 2: The Trench brings the bigger and scarier sharks on screen worldwide following its theatrical release on August 2, 2023.

A big prehistoric shark blockbuster ends with these four words you wouldn't anticipate hearing: "A Ben Wheatley Film." And yet, Meg 2: The Trench is just that - a studio-land sensation from Down Terrace and Happy New Year filmmaker Colin Burstead.

It shouldn't come as a complete shock because he has long been a genre pioneer. He has also occasionally dabbled in more mainstream material.

Don't anticipate underwater kitchen sinkery or hallucinatory horror as Wheatley switches from In The Earth to in the sea; instead, he is savoring working with a major studio and, well, an actual budget, and he clearly intends to deliver the head, the tail, and the whole damn thing to a splashy summer crowd.

He largely succeeds on that front. The marketing for The Meg from 2018 seems to be more in on the joke than the actual film as it's Jason Statham vs. a prehistoric shark"), but The Trench is more obviously humorous.

It gives Statham greater leeway to wink at the viewer by having him argue with parrots, use gravel-coated remarks such as "It's a Meg, you're a snack", and lean into cool-guy kiss-off lines as Jonas Taylor, the character he played in Fast and Furious 6.

The plot is pulpier as well, with Jonas and his crew being left in The Trench, where the Megs originated, while some beasties escape to ruin beachgoers' fun on 'Fun Island.' However, Cliff Curtis and Page Kennedy, who are back, have fun. It is, to use the words of Kennedy's engineer DJ, "some dumb-ass shit" – albeit consciously so.

It could be faster, though. Before delving into the depths, there are awkward scenes to establish Chinese megastar Wu Jing as a co-lead and the uncle of Sophia Cai's returning child, Meiying.

Additionally, there is stilted, politically-motivated exposition to wade through. After arriving, the Trench itself is unimpressive, with atmospheric moodiness (the ocean floor bathed in hellish red light) occasionally evaporating into murky incoherence.

A shot from inside a Meg's mouth as it chomps victims in bulk is a highlight. Back on the surface, Wheatley prepares for a ridiculously hilarious ending that revels in unleashing toothy chaos. He gets the essentials right with effectively crunching action and well-timed jump scares.

His Meg 2 gets that this kind of movie should start with a Meg vs. T-Rex fight and end with Jason Statham riding a jet ski while brandishing a spear like a katana. Colin Burstead, it's your turn. Ben Wheatley's Meg sequel (cherish those words) overcomes a soggy narrative with joyful pulpiness, giving good summer fin, despite factors that threaten to drag it down into the depths.