Synopsis
A research team encounters multiple threats while exploring the depths of the ocean, including a malevolent mining operation.
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Based on novels by Steve Alten
Starring Haiqi, Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Shuya Sophia Cai, Cliff Curtis and Page Kennedy
Released in cinemas for probably nowhere near long enough
Review
I'm feeling a lot of pressure with this review, as I know a lot of you are keen to hear my terrible take on the second instalment of The Meg... and that amuses me, as I've never actually written an official review of the original.
Four years after Jonas and Co. successfully stopped the modern world's first (and second) megalodon attack, they've firmly placed themselves at the forefront of deep sea exploration.
Jiuming, Suyin's brother, has taken up the family torch and is using his tech to revolutionise exploration in the Marianas Trench. But, as with everything that's made for good, there's someone who will use it for bad.
Just a reminder, there will be spoilers, not that I'm convinced you can ever spoil a shark film. I wrote an excessive amount of notes and commentary on this too... maybe get a fresh drink and a snack, just in case.
It’s always great seeing actors and actresses appearing in new things, and seeing Roberta make the jump from Jurassic Park (and World) to The Meg was brilliant. Great to see her getting more work and exercising that iconic roar. (There's definitely a lot of Jurassic Park Easter egg, this opening is in the book, FYI.)
Although there are a fair few returning characters, we've got no Suyin. I believe she pulled out for personal reasons, but whatever that reason, they handled it reasonably well. Though there is a slight frustration that she's just dead with no mention of what happened.
Jonas and Meiying have the same fun dynamic as the first film, but we don't have any context for their relationship, he mentions "parenting", and that's the clear vibe, but did Jonas marry Suyin... did he get custody... does Jiuming have custody? It does lead to a few questionable plot holes, but we all know I don't care about those.
There's little to no introduction to the collection of "main" characters, after my first watch, I couldn't have told you 5 of their names, and at that point the names weren't on IMDb. Going to a subtitled screening really helped sort that out!
These extras, which honestly, no one really cared about in the film... gave some reasonable acting, I can't say I was a fan of Samuels as Jess. Everything with her was too obvious, and when it wasn't obvious, the swing in personality made me think she might be a serial killer on the side. Also could have done with a bit of a rewrite to kill off Rigas, an utterly disagreeable character.
From our original bunch we got DJ back with an amazingly fun arc, he's such a great character, and in this "glow up", we have exactly what every returning character should be doing... learning from the previous films in the franchise. He's frequently paired up with Mac, and while I love Cliff Curtis, this outing of the character is terrible. Mac is somehow significantly dumber, and instead of slick humour we get something I'd expect from drunk teenagers.
Our villains are a little bland, but Montes (played by Sergio Peris-Mencheta) bucks the trend. But how in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks did he keep appearing everywhere??! That was some vintage Die Hard baddie nonsense. Nice little twist that he actually has emotions.
"Emma, you're whining so much about the film, surely you hate it!" Loooool. That's not how my brain works.
The beginning of the film is quite unnecessary, yes it sort of sets up the villain, but it could easily have been taken out... though that would have been less Statham sass, and one less opportunity for him to dive into something. Plus, we'd have missed henchmen bouncing off things, which was absolutely delightful.
Side note, I can't remember if this was in the book or not, but... they work at the Oceanic Institute... because nothing to do with Oceanic was ever bad.
A big missed opportunity for me was the suits that were being tested. They look all superhero-y, and yet we never really see them using that power on anything... where was my Statham-Shark fist/fin fight?!
Quite a few times you'll spot homages to other films, I won't write them all down here, but you can hear me waffling about them on the Piecing It Together Podcast. As of writing this, my episode hasn't been released, but go give the pod a follow, subscribe etc, to stay up to date with new releases... and absolutely listen to some other episodes while you're there, they're a hoot.
Effects in this sort of film are never going to be fantastic. You could really see where the 3D was going in, which is distracting. I'm assuming the first scene with JS in the water and the plane were included in that, not an ideal look to the water, but if you're watching that, you're missing other nonsense, but that was probably the only really terrible bits I noticed.
Random thoughts:
- Is eating someone in those suits like when you accidentally eat a prawn that still has its shell on? If it is, I totally get why the Meg is grumpy
- Google fodder: The science of high pressure situations on the survival of the human body
As you can tell, I could go on and on about this, and I probably will in another format at some time. Needless to say, it's daft, I loved it, and I broke all kinds of personal preferences about digital/physical media because I wanted to watch it and I won't wait until New Year for the blu-ray.
What you should do
Of course I think you should see it repeatedly, and then pre-order the physical copy.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Someone that rolls as hard as Pippin does. Pippin was MVP, yet again. Runs to danger, attacks that danger, powerhouse swimmer (and thank god someone actually helped him this time).
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