*SPOILERS FOR THE MEG 2 AND JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION AHEAD*
The Meg 2 has ended its theatrical run, and has been making it’s way into our homes through VOD or other means.
Even though I was not a fan of the original, I still opted to see The Meg 2 in theatres. In hopes the big screen, and loud speakers would help me enjoy my experience a bit more.
In The Meg we were treated to two Megalodon sharks. The sequel sought to up the anti by adding TWO more Megs to the mix. And yet, as I sat in the theatre and watched Statham’s character survive the Mariana’s Trench with no gear on, and the suggestion of giant marine life fights, I was still left wondering…Where are the sharks?
You would think having three sharks in the movie, we would have an over abundance of these massive killers. Instead we basically get Jurassic World: Dominion. A movie that left me wondering, where are the dinosaurs?
The thread that these two movies share is, that they think we care about the human characters. At least more than we do the whole reason we sit in the theatre to watch these movies. Now I’m not saying you can’t have good characters and awesome action scenes or dramatic moments between characters. However, both these movies instead focus on a “bigger” threat, corporate espionage. In Jurassic World, we have an entire plot line about locusts created from old DNA to take out farmers fields or something? Listen, I was so bored at parts of this movie I didn’t fully follow some parts. Who goes to see Jurassic Park (World) to see locusts? I personally go for the dinosaurs, the action, and yes, even a good storyline.
The Meg 2 suffers the same plot threads. We have a character who is sabotaging the teams efforts due to some bigger corporate threat. The film spends so much time focusing on this that it seems to forget the reason we are there. And no it’s not just for Statham’s sex appeal, although I suppose it is a plus, it’s for the sharks. Maybe I am only speaking for myself. But at the end of the day, I just wanted some more aquatic horror. The film also spends a good portion of it’s time trapping our main characters in an hidden underwater base that they must escape. Who cares? There’s nothing wrong with this plot thread per se, too much time is spent on it.
Our characters do finally escape, and we are teased that other bigger threats have escaped the trench. When I first saw the giant octopus’ shadow escaping the trench I was starting to feel excited. While we get a few glimpses of it attacking lone boaters, it feels like a build up to a big fight. And maybe even the focus of the final few scenes. But of course not. Yes the shark and giant octopus fighting was fun too watch. At the end of the day it was too short. I really hope maybe there’s an unrated cut that exists.
As the film closes out, one meg remains in the ocean free. This meg was held in captivity and escaped to go get it on with some other megs. Although the overall experience was less than satisfactory, I am hopeful that what we did see is merely a set-up of bigger and better things. Hopefully this movie will serve merely as a world building experience. Until we get something more satisfactory in the inevitable sequel.
