Meg 2: The Trench debuts with a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes

Steve Hopkins

We’re going to need a bigger Meg.

In the new Jason Statham film, Meg 2: The Trench, he is seen holding off an enormous shark with one foot and chasing it on a jetski.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, on Thursday it had a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes, though, by Sunday it had surged to 29%.

The sequel to 2018’s The Meg, hits cinemas today but isn’t expected to hit streaming services until October, according to Decider.

Directed by Ben Wheatley, the sci-fi action film follows Jonas Taylor (Statham) as he leads a research team, which includes action icon Wu Jing, in exploring the deepest parts of the ocean.

When their mission becomes threatened by a “malevolent mining operation,” they are forced to outrun and outsmart “colossal, prehistoric sharks” in the ultimate battle for survival.

According to Warner Bros, Meg 2 is a “larger-than-life thrill ride that supersizes the 2018 blockbuster and takes the action to higher heights and even greater depths with multiple massive Megs and so much more!”

The research mission, the synopsis reads, “spirals into chaos” 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.”

Warner Bros calls Meg 2 the “most electrifying cinematic experience of the year.”

A BBC reviewer called it “plain awful”. Reviewer, Caryn James wrote: “The sequel to the 2018 hit The Meg raises one of the timeless questions about cinema: when is a film so bad it’s good – hilarious in its crumminess – and when is it just plain awful? Meg 2: The Trench definitely falls in the terrible category, and it didn’t have to be that way.”

Other reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes were kinder.

One wrote: “Wheatley goes full throttle on the B-movie spectacle, packing the nearly two-hour runtime to the gills with aquatic horror madness and nonstop entertainment. It’s messy, but this sequel knows exactly what type of movie it is.”

Another added: “In this summer when one over-the-top and over-the-hill action sequel after another has fallen flat with audiences, perhaps we’re ready for one that invites us to snicker.”

But the critics weren’t all so nice.

“Somewhere during the film’s over-long runtime that nears two hours, a character says, “This is just some dumb sh*t. Mark my words,” in relation to one of the movie’s convoluted machinations. I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

A fourth added: “While we don’t get excellent dialogue OR award-winning performances, we also don’t get fast-paced action filled with thrills… there are kills and there are some stupid and fun stunts, but it takes way too long to accomplish this.”

Meg 2: The Trench is out in Irish cinemas now.