Meg2 The Trench

Stars: Jason Statham, Cliff Curtis, Jing Wu, Sienna Guillory, Shuya Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta

Director: Ben Wheatley

By some lucky chance, the gods spared me the original Meg, but this new adventure of rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is pretty good for its first half-hour, as oceanic research vehicles are trapped deep underwater by a combination of hungry megalodons (giant prehistoric sharks) and rogue operators mining the ocean floor.

The eerie procession that follows, as the survivors try to make their way back to headquarters on foot with air supply running low, has a doomy atmosphere all its own.

Once away from the sea bed, however, the film quickly develops into an often ludicrous popcorn comedy-adventure, a sort of poor-man's-James-Bond meets Jaws that looks as though it was stitched together in haphazard fashion in the cutting-room.

'That's the biggest meg I've ever seen,' gasps one of the good guys (Kennedy). 'It's gotta be the apex predator.' When the same character exclaims 'This is some dumb-ass shit, mark my words,' we can only sympathise.

Subtlety is beyond Statham and the only time he tries it, he gets a laugh, while his Ahab-like battles with the megs have about as much conviction as Sinbad fighting monsters of the high seas in films of yore.

A mega-giant octopus and prehistoric raptors are thrown into the mix before the end. They're all over the place, much like the film.

David Quinlan

USA/China/Thailand 2023. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Colour (unspecified).
115 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 03 Aug 2023