Meg 2: The Trench has been savaged by critics in early reviews, with many claiming it to be worse than the first film.
The follow up to the 2018 action movie sees Jason Statham return as Jonas Taylor, as he and his crew of underwater researchers discover a deep trench housing three massive megalodon sharks, as well as another prehistoric creature that threatens everyone on the surface.
At the time of writing, Meg 2 has a Rotten Tomato critic score of just 28 per cent, which is even lower the franchise’s mildly received first film (46 per cent).
Variety wrote of Ben Wheatley’s sequel: “If you want to know what a movie would sound like were it written entirely by AI, look no further than The Meg 2.”
The Guardian, meanwhile, gave the film two stars, writing: “The sequel treads water and splashes around frantically in search of an identity. Never settling on whether he wants his film to be Alien, Jaws, Jurassic Park or Sharknado, Wheatley serves up a bouillabaisse of all four.”
Sharing a similar sentiment, BBC Culture wrote: “Meg 2 doesn’t know what it is, other than a movie sort of like that first movie, but messier. Often it seems like a serious but very distant, shabby descendant of Jaws, yet at times it also has glimmers of meta wit, with nods at its own genre.”
Others have been kinder to the film, with Empire writing in a three-star review: “Despite elements that threaten to drag it down into the depths, Ben Wheatley’s Meg sequel (cherish those words) battles a waterlogged script with playful pulpiness, delivering solid summer fin. Sorry, fun.”
NME also gave the sequel three stars, writing: “Wheatley proves himself an instant master of CGI monster movie mayhem here, but by piling it on so relentlessly thick he all but admits defeat in his initial attempts to give the franchise any believable depths. Maybe next time, when Lars von Trier presents Meg 3: Chaos Reigns.”
Meg 2: The Trench arrives in cinemas on August 4.