A research team encounters multiple threats while exploring the depths of the ocean, including a malevolent mining operation.
Chuck says:
When you watch a Jason Statham movie, you have certain expectations. There will be action, the story will likely make little sense and the star’s wry charisma will help smooth over the movie’s faults. Ironically, his latest, “Meg 2,” elicited a response I never thought I’d have towards a Statham actioner – I was bored to tears. I never thought a movie featuring three sharks as big as a tractor trailer and an octopus as large as a house munching on people would make me nod off. And yet, in that way, Ben Wheatley manages to defy expectations with this instantly forgettable, bloated B-movie.
More is not more here, not where the oversized sharks or the needlessly convoluted plot is concerned. All we need is the thinnest of excuses to turn these teethed leviathans loose, yet it takes far too long for that to happen. Instead, the film gets bogged down with an overlong journey to the depths of the ocean by a group of scientists who foolishly venture into an unknown sector. There they find a hidden mining facility while their submersibles suffer mechanical failure and the crews are forced to walk to safety on the ocean floor. All the while, the sharks are cruising.
Look, I know movies play fast and loose with scientific fact, but when our hero must take a quick dive at 25,000 feet and we’re told he won’t be crushed if he clears his sinuses and fills them with air…I mean, give me a break! I can forgive such egregious errors if I’m adequately distracted, however, that was certainly not the case here. Confusion reigns as much of the action is muddled due to many scenes taking place in the sea’s darkest recesses, none of this helped by a rapid cutting rhythm. It got so bad, once helmets were put on for the fateful ocean walk, I couldn’t distinguish one character from the other.
The carnage – and let’s be honest, that’s the reason you’re going to this movie – doesn’t kick into high gear until the last half hour when a resort comes under attack. However, this is botched as well as Wheatley takes a page from the superhero film playbook, giving us an overextended, repetitious conclusion that bores rather than thrills. Not silly enough to be funny, not serious enough to be scary, “Meg 2” is dead in the water. Sharks + Statham = Tedium? Who’d a thunk it?
