Quick Synopsis: Jason Staham fights a shark, and some dinosaur-like things too.

The Meg was surprisingly good. Yes it was a dumb monster movie, but it also had incredibly well-written characters, good CGI, and no weak performances. There’s a new director this time, Cool Runnings Jon Turteltaub has been replaced by Ben Wheatley, better known for Sightseers, Kill List, Free Fire etc. Essentially, if you want something weird, British, and slightly disgusting but ultimately satisfying you call Ben Wheatley (or pop into your local Greggs). So he’s a weird choice for this. He works though. There are some weird shots in here which I don’t think many other directors would have been brave enough to attempt. It doesn’t feel like a Wheatley movie, but it does feel unique, it doesn’t have the “this could have been directed by anybody” feeling that has haunted a lot of MCU stuff lately (look, I enjoy the MCU, but let’s not pretend the directors are given enough creative control that the products they’ve released lately have felt unique).

Everything I liked about the first one was recreated here. It had characters with more depth than you’d expect in a film of this nature. On the downside, it did kill off one of the major characters from the previous film off-screen and doesn’t really explain how. The CGI is as good as the first one, which is impressive considering how it has a lot more to do here.

That’s kind of a downside though, the whole thing feels like the first one, just slightly different. Not really a sequel, instead it feels more like an alternate-universe version of the same film. As well done as it is, in a year’s time it’s going to be really difficult to remember that much from it. I know that’s the case for the first one as whilst watching this I realised I had no idea if certain characters were in the original or whether they were new. Another problem which has come up again in this edition; the lack of gore. Wheatley does the best with what he can, the scene where there’s a crack in someone’s helmet is horrific, but there are other times where the lack of blood is noticeable, where it seems like an “edited for Sunday afternoon family viewing” version of the film.

Now, this film is dumb. But it’s entertaining. It has a pretty good pace, things move along quickly enough so you’re not bored. It’s not going to test your brain or make you think about the wider world. But it will keep you occupied and make you think “that’s fun” whilst watching. And really that’s all you need.

Note; the previous will be true in the future. Truth be told, the opening section being set on a submarine that goes missing whilst exploring a crash site just made me think of the Oceangate disaster, only this time with sympathetic characters.