Starring: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Shuya Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Sienna Guillory, Cliff Curtis
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Action adventure horror sequel directed by Ben Wheatley. Meg 2: The Trench (2023) centers on Jonas (Jason Statham) as he and global action star Wu Jing lead a daring research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean. Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Pitted against colossal Megs and relentless environmental plunderers, our heroes must outrun, outsmart, and outswim their merciless predators in a pulse-pounding race against time.
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Best Quotes
Cargo Ship Captain: [referring to Jonas] I want him caught, dead or dead.
Jonas Taylor: You’re all under arrest. For the illegal dumping of radioactive materials. Yeah, you, you, you, you, and you.
Cargo Ship Captain: What, me, and him, and him? And him?
Cargo Ship Captain: [to his men] Kill him.
Jonas Taylor: I know. You want to see the warrant. It’s right in my pocket.
Jonas Taylor: [flips them off as he jumps into the sea] I’ll see you in court, yeah?
Mac: [referring to Jonas] He’s like a green James Bond. I like it.
Mac: [as he flies past the goons] Hello, suckers.
Rigas: [referring to Jonas] Looks like he’s been making friends.
Mac: Wherever he goes, people just love him. God knows why.
Mac: I cannot believe you got this far in life without knowing how to tie a tie.
Jonas Taylor: First, let’s not overstate how far I’ve gotten in life. Second, never involved wearing a monkey suit.
Jonas Taylor: [referring to Montes] I don’t like him.
Mac: You don’t like anyone.
Jonas Taylor: I like you.
Mac: That’s because I save your life all the time. I buy you beers, and I back you up in bar fights.
Jonas Taylor: It’s because you’re a special guy.
Jiuming Zhang: [in Mandarin] As the great poet Song Lian said, “Man is limited only by his imagination.”
Party Guest: [in Mandarin] Do you think there are more creatures to be discovered down there?
Jiuming Zhang: There has to be.
'If you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life.' - Jonas Taylor (Meg 2: The Trench) Share on X
Mac: [referring to Jonas, to the guests] Go on, give him a hug. Give him a tickle. Oh, he loves people.
Meiying: Mom was diving all the time at my age.
Jonas Taylor: Not to twenty-five thousand feet.
Meiying: Saying it’s too dangerous?
Jonas Taylor: Too dangerous for you. But not dangerous.
Meiying: In psychology, they call that “cognitive dissonance”.
Jonas Taylor: In the real world, they call it “parenting”.
Jonas Taylor: Why are you swimming with the meg, Jiuming?
Jiuming Zhang: I’m conducting an experiment.
Jonas Taylor: Is the experiment “Do I taste good?”
Jonas Taylor: A meg is not trainable, Jiuming. But if you want to be eaten in front of your niece, go ahead.
Rigas: Fifty bucks says this is going to end badly.
Lance: I’ll take that action.
Sal: I am all in for team shark.
DJ: What? You can’t bet on a shark, man. That’s bad karma.
Jonas Taylor: Jiuming, I’d like to respectfully suggest that this is truly a terrible idea. Megs and humanity were never meant to mix.
Jiuming Zhang: Haiqi and I have a special bond.
Jiuming Zhang: [referring to Haiqi] I can’t figure out what’s wrong with her. She’s been acting strangely all week.
Jonas Taylor: You can clickety-click all you want. The problem is that it’s a meg. And you’re a snack.
Jiuming Zhang: You’re taking bigger and bigger risks each time you go out.
Jonas Taylor: Well, I guess we both know about that.
Jiuming Zhang: It’s not the same. With me, there’s a calculation of risks.
Jonas Taylor: Not that I see.
Jiuming Zhang: [to Meiying, in Mandarin] I hadn’t had any contact with your grandfather for many years. Then he asked your mum to bring me this calligraphy. “Dragon travelling across the Four Seas.” I thought it was a form of ridicule, but I came to realize that he wanted me to find my own way. Like the dragon, I hope you can find your own fate.
DJ: Diving in T-minus twenty minutes. All eyes open for a straightforward sweep and scan. The usual.
Rigas: Yeah. There’s no usual down there.
Curtis: What’s with all these toys you have hanging around your console, Lance?
Lance: They’re not toys. They’re figurines.
Mac: They are definitely toys, Lance.
'We work the problems one by one. We do what's in front of us. And then we do the next thing.' - Jonas Taylor (Meg 2: The Trench) Share on X
Jess: Jonas, can you confirm O2 levels?
Jonas Taylor: Consumption is eleven percent over mission spec. Guess Rigas is nervous.
DJ: More like you’re a mouth breather.
Jiuming Zhang: He totally is.
Rigas: I can feel the breeze from over here.
Jonas Taylor: Yeah. Firstly, it’s called a deviated septum. Second, I distinctly remember deviating it while saving your ungrateful a** from a seventy foot megalodon.
Jonas Taylor: You got to be kidding me.
Meiying: I see that you’re angry. But I believe that this is a reasonable and responsible decision.
Jonas Taylor: Stop the dive.
Rigas: Full stop. But before you start yelling, can I just say, I did all kinds of stupid things when I was fourteen. And look how I turned out.
Jiuming Zhang: We’ve got company.
Sal: Guys, it’s a meg. Approaching fast.
Mac: That’s not possible.
Sal: Charging the predator countermeasures.
Jonas Taylor: We’ll be dead before they’re online.
Rigas: How did your pet shark get down here, Jiuming?
Jiuming Zhang: She must have escaped. How did that happen?
Sal: Predator countermeasures active.
Rigas: Proximity alert. Megs.
Meiying: No way.
Rigas: That’s the biggest meg I’ve ever seen.
Jonas Taylor: Biggest meg anyone’s ever seen.
Sal: That’s got to be the apex predator.
Jiuming Zhang: This is an exploration mission. Let’s explore.
DJ: Really, Mac? So, we’re going to follow some giant sharks to a unknown sector? Man, this some dumba** s**t, mark my words.
Jonas Taylor: Your mum loved this place more than anything.
Meiying: Well, I’m glad I finally get to see it.
Jonas Taylor: Don’t get used to it. You’re grounded for the rest of your life.
Meiying: I love you too.
'Sometimes, there's a situation, and bad things are happening, and you just have to get involved.' - Meiying (Meg 2: The Trench) Share on X
Jiuming Zhang: It’s some instinctual gathering.
Rigas: Incredible.
Jiuming Zhang: They’re here to mate. This is why Haiqi has been acting strangely.
Jonas Taylor: Oh, great. More megs.
Merc Diver: Hey, Montes. Why do you get to stay in the submarine?
Montes: It’s good to be the king.
Jonas Taylor: Good to hear your voice, Mac.
Mac: Not as good as it is to hear yours, brother. Talk to me.
Jonas Taylor: It ain’t good.
Mac: Those suits have two hours of air tops. They’re only designed for brief extravehicular work.
Jonas Taylor: We’ll go slow and steady. They’ll hold.
Mac: It’s three kilometers. You’ll be defenseless out there.
Jonas Taylor: What do you want from me, Mac? This is what we got, and this is what we’re going to do. Half our team is dead, and I’m not losing the other half.
Jonas Taylor: What the hell are you doing?
Jiuming Zhang: Saving your a**. And walking back to that station. What are you doing?
Jonas Taylor: Saving your a**. And walking back to that station.
Sal: Hey, you need to calm down or you’re going to run out of oxygen, Lance.
Lance: I don’t think I can.
Rigas: Think of it as cosplay. Or we could be paintballing.
Curtis: Like the ultimate team-building exercise.
Jonas Taylor: We need to cover distance while the megs are still occupied.
Meiying: Away from the megs is fine by me.
Rigas: Is it just me, or does walking three kilometers underwater sound like hard work?
Curtis: It certainly wasn’t on my to-do list.
Meiying: Anybody want to play a game?
Jiuming Zhang: A game?
Rigas: This isn’t a game.
Curtis: She means to keep our minds occupied.
Rigas: Right now, my mind is pretty damn occupied.
Jonas Taylor: Rigas, cover our six. Shoot anything that moves.
Rigas: You bet your a** I will.
Jiuming Zhang: Many contacts to our right. Coming in fast.
Jonas Taylor: What, megs?
Jiuming Zhang: No. Smaller. Faster.
Jonas Taylor: Everybody make it to the station!
Jonas Taylor: [to Jiuming] You really want to die, don’t you?
Jess: Jonas, now that I have you here, we need to talk candidly. I have full control of the station, and I’ve locked down this room.
Jonas Taylor: Jess?
Jess: Your life is in my hands.
Jonas Taylor: These are your friends. They’ve been with you for years.
Jess: I know it hurts. And we’re talking because I’d prefer we were on the same side. All making so much money, it ceases to have meaning.
Jonas Taylor: You’re offering us money? Three of our friends are dead because of you. You think I’m going to forget about that?
Jiuming Zhang: [in Mandarin] Karma will get you.
Jiuming Zhang: [to Jonas] If anyone can do this, it’s you.
Montes: Hey there, tree hugger. Jonas Taylor, eco-warrior, fighting the good fight. Well, guess what? You lost.
Montes: You don’t even remember me, do you? No? Montes.
Jonas Taylor: There’s a million scumbags in this world. It’s hard to keep track of all of them.
Rigas: We’ll never make it past the megs.
Jiuming Zhang: We need a distraction. Light up the station. The megs will attack it.
Rigas: Yeah. And kill us.
Jiuming Zhang: Not if we’re fast enough.
Jonas Taylor: For a moment, I thought you were going to kill me back there.
Rigas: Well, she did say to shoot you in the heart. And I know for a fact you ain’t got one of those.
Rigas: We’re all going to die!
Jonas Taylor: That was close.
Jiuming Zhang: Too close. You should have shut the hatch.
Jonas Taylor: Yeah. Meiying would have killed me.
Jiuming Zhang: You thought about it though.
Jonas Taylor: Yeah. We thought about it. Didn’t we, Rigas?
Rigas: Shut up.
Jonas Taylor: Just a little bit.
Jiuming Zhang: [in Mandarin] Very funny.
Mac: [to DJ, referring to the mercernaries] They tried to kill Jonas, they’re definitely going to kill us.
Jiuming Zhang: What’s that?
Jonas Taylor: Trouble.
Rigas: So, we’re walking fast and with a lot of determination, which is great. But what exactly is the plan here?
Jonas Taylor: They’re armed and we’re not.
Mac: You got Tasers? Now you can swim? All of a sudden you run around like you’re fricking Batman.
DJ: Hell, yeah.
DJ: I ain’t stupid. I trained up. I learned how to fight. I learned how to swim. And I will never go anywhere without my survival pack.
Mac: Survival pack?
DJ: Yeah. Check this out. Come here, baby. Come here. Bam. Yeah, I even made poison-tipped bullets, just like Jaws 2.
Jiuming Zhang: [in Mandarin] I know you’re looking for me and Jonas. I also know you don’t speak Chinese, but I’m speaking it to distract you guys, because my friend is about to attack you from behind.
Mercenary: What?
Mac: I thought you were dead.
Jonas Taylor: Wishful thinking, Mac.
Jess: This place? Meg-proof. I mean, Jonas was always afraid of this, but I think, between trackers and gunships, we can solve the problem and come out the other side with a significant positive PR spin.
Driscoll: Yeah, I’m on it.
Jess: I was also thinking…
[a meg crashes through the glass and takes her]
Jonas Taylor: It’s our only way off. We have to take it.
Mac: But that thing doesn’t have the range to get us to the mainland.
DJ: You’re worried about the destination? What about the first hundred yards? That’s where we going die.
Jiuming Zhang: We paddle out slow. No engines. Minimal motion. We won’t look like food. When we’re clear, we make a run for it. Huh?
Jonas Taylor: Let’s do it.
DJ: I still think we look like food.
DJ: This feels unpleasantly familiar.
Rigas: I just hope it goes better than last time.
Jiuming Zhang: What happened last time?
Jonas Taylor: You don’t want to know.
DJ: [referring to the mercenaries boat] He got them! He ate them! He ate the whole boat!
Mac: Bloke, you got more chance of blowing up yourself than one of the megs.
Jonas Taylor: At least I won’t get eaten.
DJ: Ha, I hear that.
Jiuming Zhang: We have to find a way to warn people. In case the megs move towards land. There’s an island sixty klicks southeast of us. It’s listed as inhabited.
Jonas Taylor: Inhabited by who?
Jiuming Zhang: The name more or less translates to Fun Island.
Jonas Taylor: Fun Island?
Tourist Businessman: I’m sitting in paradise and you are ruining it! Who does that? Who ruins paradise for other people?
Tourist Businessman: Hey, baby. Want to rub some oil on my back? No? How about my front?
Beautiful Tourist: Ew.
Meiying: [referring to the tourists] You have to save them!
Jonas Taylor: I’m not leaving you.
Meiying: There’s no choice.
Jiuming Zhang: She’s right.
Jonas Taylor: This is not one of those things where I tell you to do something, you say “yes”, and then you do whatever you want. Understand?
Meiying: Yes.
Jonas Taylor: You’re not messing with me?
Meiying: No.
Jonas Taylor: I can’t do what I need to do if I’m worried about you.
Meiying: I’ll be fine. Promise me you’ll come back.
Jonas Taylor: You know I love you.
Jonas Taylor: Three megs. Three of us. We each grab a jet ski. Get them to chase it away from these people and out to sea. Then we harpoon them.
Mac: Oh, you mean with those jerry-rigged, maybe-they-work, maybe-they-kill-us harpoons?
Jonas Taylor: Yeah.
Mac: It’s a terrible idea.
Jiuming Zhang: You got a better one?
Mac: No. No.
Rigas: [referring to backpack] What else you got in here?
DJ: Emergency stuff.
Rigas: Okay. Really? Condoms?
DJ: Different kind of emergencies.
DJ: [to the mercenary pointing his gun at him] I wouldn’t point that at me if I were you. Trust me.
Mac: Where are you going?
Jiuming Zhang: Stealing a chopper.
Mac: What chopper?
DJ: Global rescue? We need rescue! We need you to send everybody you got! The National Guard, the lifeguard, the Coast Guard. Anybody! Just come now!
Montes: [to Jonas] Come out from under the bridge, little troll!
Montes: End of the line, no?
Jonas Taylor: I guess it is.
Montes: You got the gun.
Jonas Taylor: I won’t be needing this.
Montes: I knew you couldn’t do it.
Jonas Taylor: [as he kicks Montes into the oncoming meg’s mouth] See you later, chum.
Rigas: Meiying, what are you doing here?
Meiying: I had to save the dog!
Rigas: What?
DJ: Who says a .50 caliber is an impractical round?
Jiuming Zhang: [referring to Haiqi] I told you! We have a special bond.
Jonas Taylor: It went after the dolphins.
Jiuming Zhang: No! She obeyed my command.
Jonas Taylor: Ridiculous. I didn’t believe it before, and I don’t believe it now. Hey, Mac, back me up.
Jiuming Zhang: I’m getting out of here before she changes her mind. You guys stay there and argue.
Meiying: It’s not my fault. Sometimes, there’s a situation, and bad things are happening, and you just have to get involved.
Jonas Taylor: I’m glad you finally understand. I’m proud of you.
DJ: Yeah, I used to didn’t know how to swim. But then, you know, you out there chasing sharks, you better learn how to swim quick!
Jiuming Zhang: [referring to Haiqi possibly being pregnant] That’s tomorrow. Today, we count our blessings.
Mac: Here’s to being alive.
Jonas Taylor: Here’s to dolphins.
Jiuming Zhang: To Meiying being safe.
Jonas Taylor: And here’s to Sal, Lance, and Curtis.
Meiying: So, am I still grounded?
Jonas, Jiuming: Absolutely.
Meiying: You two are ridiculous. But I love you anyway.
Jonas Taylor: Looks like you got a little reckless out there.
Jiuming Zhang: No, everything was totally under control.
Jonas Taylor: Yeah, right.
DJ: Well, everything’s about to be totally not under control.