Oh, Ben Wheatley! Regarded as one of this country’s best independent filmmakers, Mr Wheatley has, over the years, produced some excellent cross-genre movies like the gangster/horror Kill List, the black comedy Sightseers, and the deconstruction of an action movie, Free Fire. Now he tackles his first big blockbuster movie, Meg 2: The Trench, the sequel to the 2018 giant shark film. Hopes that Wheatley can bring his unique blend of movie magic had me excited for this film. Sadly, this seems to be a by-the-book production in which Wheatley is being governed by a studio and the money because this is possibly one of the worst films of the years, and that makes me sad to say that.

Jonas Taylor and his team of marine biologists have been investigating life beyond the Trench, an area of deep water where they think the Megalodon came from. When going down to explore, they find themselves caught up in a conspiracy involving one of their own who wants the trench for their own to mine valuable minerals. With a fight for survival ahead of them, they don’t realise that they have released more than a couple of Megalodons to the surface.

The 2018 original wasn’t precisely Jaws, although it longed to be that. At least the film lived up to having plenty of scenes with the giant shark of the title. This time, it seems the shark(s) are playing second fiddle to everyone else, as vicious lizards and a giant octopus aim to take centre stage, as well as the mismatched cast of characters who would never mix in a million years. From Jonas Taylor, the all-action, fearless leader, to Juiming Zhang, the company’s owner financing the biologists, to his niece, Maiying, the precocious 14-year-old who survived the original film.

Wheatley’s film focuses far too much on this team discovering the bandits drilling for minerals and escaping their almost endless supply of henchmen than on the prehistoric creatures for the title. In fact, we don’t get to see any real shark action till the final 30 minutes. By that point, you really don’t care. It has been compared to Jurassic World: Dominion, which was less about dinosaurs. If this film was to succeed, then it must be the set pieces, and they would have to be spectacular. They are not.

Wheatley directed Free Fire, a quick-fire action film that mainly shoots for the whole of its running time, so he understands how to deliver a cracking action film. Here, we spend most of the time trying to work out just what is going on during the darkly lit, shaky-cam sequences. As most of the scenes happen underwater or on submarines with dim lighting, it makes it almost impossible to follow what is happening. At least with other action films of late, the shaky-cam approach has been replaced with straight-forward, still, shots so you can see the star doing their own stunts (Keanu and Tom, thank you).

It also doesn’t help that the script is awful. Sometimes with films like this, it doesn’t matter, but when the dialogue sounds like it’s been produced by AI systems, you can understand why writers are on strike. Admittedly, this has been financed with Chinese money, hence the heavily subtitled moments when the Chinese characters are speaking, and so it seems to be aimed at a Chinese audience, they have forgotten the rest of the world is watching too, and you cringe when characters deliver cliched lines like:

“That’s the biggest Meg I’ve ever seen!”

“Biggest Meg anyone’s ever seen!”

“That’s the apex predator!”

Even having the mighty Jason Statham back as Jonas cannot save this from sinking. When the film starts, with Jonas taking on eco-pirates dumping toxic waste into the ocean, you feel that we will get The Stath kicking butt and sprouting quips throughout. That is not the case. Although Statham does get to fight and, in the final act, take on the Megs with a jet ski and spears, you really don’t care less. The rest of the cast is functional, with Page Kennedy as DJ making an actual impression.

Meg 2: The Trench could have been a fundamental change in blockbuster filmmaking with Wheatley on board. Sadly, he has either sold out or was governed by the producers because this lacks any originality, spark or excitement. When they ask if it is good bad? I can only say no. It’s bad, bad. I mean really bad! Let’s just hope Wheatley returns to his old haunting grounds and produces another decent indie flick like In The Earth. Until then, I’d avoid the fish!

1 out of 5

Director: Ben Wheatley

Starring: Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Sophia Cai, Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skylar Samuels, Melissanthi Mahut

Written by: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Dean Georgaris and (based on the novel “The Trench”) Steve Alten

Running Time: 116 mins

Cert: 12A

Release date: 4th August 2023