By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Jason Statham managed to carve out a niche for himself in Hollywood as the king of the B-movie. His action movies have been reliable hits for over 20 years, and yet, two of his largest successes have come when he’s left behind the martial arts action of everyday guy who is secretly a world-renowned assassin. Turns out, Statham versus a giant shark is where the real money’s been this whole time. 2023’s Meg 2: The Trench which features not only a multiple giant prehistoric monster sharks but a massive octopus is now a streaming hit on Netflix.
New Meg, Same Chum
The first film, 2018’s The Meg, was our introduction to Statham’s greatest character yet, Jonas Taylor, rescue diver. He doesn’t get to roundhouse kick a bunch of hapless goons, instead opting for stabbing a giant shark in the eyeball. Meg 2: The Trench fixes that problem by giving plenty of evil mercenaries for Statham to karate chop. It also includes gigantic prehistoric shark mating rituals.
Set five years after the first film, Meg 2 now has Taylor helping to combat eco-terrorists and criminals, while back at the Mana One base, the team is studying Haiqi, a juvenile Meg who has grown up in captivity. From the beginning, you can’t think too hard about the plot. When Taylor leads the team back down through the thermocline at the bottom of the Mariana Trench from the original and there’s an entire illegal mining operation complete, don’t ask yourself “How did they build this?” It’s not that kind of movie.
As with the first film, Meg 2 comes down to the gigantic shark terrorizing unsuspecting vacationers and only Jason Statham can stop it. If you’re wondering, “how is that water deep enough for a 75-foot shark” then you’re still thinking too hard. Stop that.
Mo’ Meg Mo’ Problems
What you will notice between both films is there’s a lot of Chinese actors on camera. Both movies were co-financed by China, and as a result, were megahits in the country. Meg was during the tailend of the period where Hollywood was shoehorning in scenes for Chinese edits as a way to appeal more to teh country. Meg 2 came long after the trend died, but it was still a success, with over $300 million of its total $397 million coming from overseas markets.
The Meg and Meg 2 are both adaptations of novels by Steve Alten, though they make some significant changes from the source material. For starters, Meg 2 spends a lot more time out of the Trench, there’s fewer sharks, and since Li Bingbing didn’t come back for the sequel, everything meant for Jonas’ wife went to her brother, Jiuming (Wu Jing) instead. One new villain, the gigantic crocodile-like reptiles the kronosaurs, were written out completely, likely for inclusion in the third movie.
A third Meg movie, adapting the next novel, seems like a no-brainer. Warner Bros. hasn’t given it the greenlight and Statham has been busy on a sequel to The Beekeeper. Not only have both of the “Jason Statham asserts dominance over giant prehistoric shark” movies been box office successes, but even on stream, both have become perennial hits always lurking right outside of the top ten, if not on it, no matter the streaming platform.
Meg 2: The Trench is now available on Netflix.
