‘The Meg 2: The Trench’ Review: More Sharks, Less Bite
03.08.2023 - 19:15
/ variety.com
Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic The movie-mad phenomenon of “Barbenheimer” has been a thrilling reminder that audiences can still embrace the movie-theater experience, turning up in awesome droves when they’re offered something new and adventurous. It’s also been powerful evidence that films that aren’t formulaic sequels can succeed in a way that too many recent cookie-cutter franchise films have not. But will all that go down as a lesson for the future? Or a giant anomaly? We probably shouldn‘t kid ourselves.
“The Meg 2: The Trench” is a trivial (if not unwatchable) piece of semi-preposterous big-budget junk. But arriving just two weeks after “Barbenheimer,” it stands as a pesky signifier of what mainstream movies have been for the last 40 years, and what they’ll likely continue to be. A cash-grab sequel to a cynical knockoff? Check.
One that aims squarely at the lowest common denominator? Check. Visual effects that steamroll what was once known as character development? Check. “The Meg 2” is numbingly formulaic, promiscuously derivative and, for a few stretches (like the over-the-top third act), diverting in its very shamelessness.
It is, in other words, all an August movie really needs to be. But there’s a way that the line between August movies and movies, period, is growing thinner every day. Five summers ago, “The Meg” was an oversize, underimagined “Jaws” knockoff that didn’t have the chutzpah to be more than a hoky piece of blockbuster nostalgia.
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