Movie Review: The Meg 2

The megalodon is back. With friends. Lots of friends as well as some who have no business being able to walk on land! Quick recap: Jonas Taylor (our Jason) and crew descend again into the Trench (the Mariana Trench) to investigate further and do more research. They come across an illegal mining operation and must not only survive an underwater explosion that breaks the thermal layer (thermocline), thus enabling horrible prehistoric creatures (with more teeth than is respectable!) to escape but must battle to survive the attacks by these modern-day pirates intent on plundering the depths of the ocean floor. As if that’s not enough, treachery in the environmental company puts everyone trapped in the Trench in grave danger.

If dinosaurs ever rise again, I want Jason Statham on my side. He does all his own stunts so that’s a very good reason to have him in one’s camp. Two more megs make it through the thermocline and proceed to wreak havoc in the Pacific, namely around the ill-fated Fun Island, now heavily populated by holidaymakers determined to snap selfies and have the party to end all parties. The action erupts in a whirlwind of teeth, blood, guts, guns, hails of bullets, explosions and more as Jonas and his team (bringing back the always watchable Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, and Jiuming Zang) must eradicate the megs and their many-fanged friends. Did I mention that a giant squid also made it through the thermocline? There’s a nail-biting scene with it and a helicopter…

Don’t expect stellar acting or a literary-style script. In fact, the dialogue is downright dreadful and clunky in places, and people would never speak like this in real life. However, Cliff Curtis and Jiuming Zang manage to create a very successful comedy duo caper amid avoiding being eaten on land and in the sea and evading the above-mentioned hails of bullets. It’s essentially a continuation of The Meg (my review here) with more teeth, more bullets, and more danger, if that’s possible. It is also very entertaining, and the action sequences are absolutely incredible.

For those of you, like me, who spent much of The Meg (part one, #SavePippin) praying that Pippin, the adorable heroic pooch, would not become a meg snack, you will be delighted to know that Pippin makes an appearance in The Meg 2 and has a tussle with the arm of the giant squid. Pippin survives! Adorable Yorkie Kelly plays Pippin admirably and with great panache in both movies even though the role involves getting soaked and we all know what that does to a Yorkie’s hairdo… Pippin’s movie action was supervised by Humane Hollywood (The American Humane Society) and the sea scenes were shot in a large heated outdoor tank in a studio. Phew!

Make popcorn, get your favourite drink, sit back, and totally suspend your disbelief. You must but it’s worth it.

PS: A tame megalodon named Haiqa (can the words ‘tame’ and ‘megalodon’ even go into the same sentence?) makes a cameo appearance in The Meg 2 and it looks as if she has ‘un petit paquet’ to offer moviegoers so there might just be a Meg 3.