POSITIVES;
To be honest, I quite enjoyed most of the human parts in this film more so than a majority of the monster segments, which I found a good bulk of those scenes to be downright dull (this is problematic). When the least interesting aspect of your creature feature are the creature elements, that's how you know you've royally messed up. Frankly, when there were dramatic scenes involving the underwater industrial espionage, it all felt rather thrilling at points. Astonishingly, this is when it was able to keep my attention and managed to be somewhat cool, particularly when they were traversing the deepest depths of the ocean floor (fairly intense stuff). I didn't get deeply engaged in that side of the story, but it was more tolerable than the slog-fest of monster-action sequences that were (unfortunately) about to ensue. I liked the gorgeous macaw that those bad guys had aboard their cargo ship in the beginning of the film (that was a pleasant surprise). As shallow as this comes off sounding (bad pun intended), it was real nice to once again see that at least some eye-candy for the male-gaze was thrown into the third act, even if it was only for a few brief shots (that upside was very much appreciated). And finally, it's always a treat seeing everyone's favourite gruff macho Cockney (Jason Statham) be the leading man in another action role. There's all the praise this movie is getting from me (I was really reaching to find these good points).
NEGATIVES;
I know that a lot of big, bombastic, action-oriented Hollywood flicks nowadays are badly put together with their choppy editing, but jeez Louise... were they taking the Mickey, or what?! I swear, it really felt like the cinematographer was hopped up on about 50 cans of red bull and the editors had ADHD, because you genuinely can't tell what's happening onscreen during any of the action scenes involving the sea creatures (call that hyperbole if you want, but it's an apt description). Did they think this was supposed to be on the same level of insanity as Statham's high-octane Crank movies, or what? Plus, they must've edited these scenes with a weed-whacking garden strimmer (then piled them all into a blender, just for good measure). There are so many quick cuts with fast edits in these kinds of moments, it all leaves you feeling nauseated, to a certain extent (the camera operator seriously needed to calm the heck down and chill out). I'm not ashamed to admit that whenever the effects-heavy action scenes just started to amp up to headache-inducing levels, I truly had to close my eyes for the duration of these manic sequences, especially the climax when a giant octopus rocks up at a holiday resort (as seen in the trailers, so it's not a spoiler). I didn't do this out of fearing seeing blood/gore (of which there was none), but because those hectic scenes were literally unwatchable (no joke). The action scenes in the original movie were adequately well-made compared to this flounder of a follow up.
CONCLUSION;
If you're super into cheesy monster B-movies that're nothing but fun popcorn entertainment, this'll (probably, maybe) leave you feeling nauseated and give you a headache as a result of watching its incomprehensible creature chaos. If you're someone who's a fan of quasi-serious spy-esque espionage thrillers (sort of accommodating a James Bond vibe), then I'll bet all the absurdly goofy monster nonsense is just going to put you off seeing this entirely. So ultimately, what you basically have is a commercialised big-budget summer movie that's made for no one because it doesn't know what audience it's trying to appease/appeal to. Like the old saying goes; "if you try way too hard to please everyone, then you'll end up pleasing no one at all." Even people that were perfectly satisfied with the first one will most likely be disappointed by this muddled sequel and won't enjoy it as much (this actually made me miss the first Meg).
To be honest, I quite enjoyed most of the human parts in this film more so than a majority of the monster segments, which I found a good bulk of those scenes to be downright dull (this is problematic). When the least interesting aspect of your creature feature are the creature elements, that's how you know you've royally messed up. Frankly, when there were dramatic scenes involving the underwater industrial espionage, it all felt rather thrilling at points. Astonishingly, this is when it was able to keep my attention and managed to be somewhat cool, particularly when they were traversing the deepest depths of the ocean floor (fairly intense stuff). I didn't get deeply engaged in that side of the story, but it was more tolerable than the slog-fest of monster-action sequences that were (unfortunately) about to ensue. I liked the gorgeous macaw that those bad guys had aboard their cargo ship in the beginning of the film (that was a pleasant surprise). As shallow as this comes off sounding (bad pun intended), it was real nice to once again see that at least some eye-candy for the male-gaze was thrown into the third act, even if it was only for a few brief shots (that upside was very much appreciated). And finally, it's always a treat seeing everyone's favourite gruff macho Cockney (Jason Statham) be the leading man in another action role. There's all the praise this movie is getting from me (I was really reaching to find these good points).
NEGATIVES;
I know that a lot of big, bombastic, action-oriented Hollywood flicks nowadays are badly put together with their choppy editing, but jeez Louise... were they taking the Mickey, or what?! I swear, it really felt like the cinematographer was hopped up on about 50 cans of red bull and the editors had ADHD, because you genuinely can't tell what's happening onscreen during any of the action scenes involving the sea creatures (call that hyperbole if you want, but it's an apt description). Did they think this was supposed to be on the same level of insanity as Statham's high-octane Crank movies, or what? Plus, they must've edited these scenes with a weed-whacking garden strimmer (then piled them all into a blender, just for good measure). There are so many quick cuts with fast edits in these kinds of moments, it all leaves you feeling nauseated, to a certain extent (the camera operator seriously needed to calm the heck down and chill out). I'm not ashamed to admit that whenever the effects-heavy action scenes just started to amp up to headache-inducing levels, I truly had to close my eyes for the duration of these manic sequences, especially the climax when a giant octopus rocks up at a holiday resort (as seen in the trailers, so it's not a spoiler). I didn't do this out of fearing seeing blood/gore (of which there was none), but because those hectic scenes were literally unwatchable (no joke). The action scenes in the original movie were adequately well-made compared to this flounder of a follow up.
CONCLUSION;
If you're super into cheesy monster B-movies that're nothing but fun popcorn entertainment, this'll (probably, maybe) leave you feeling nauseated and give you a headache as a result of watching its incomprehensible creature chaos. If you're someone who's a fan of quasi-serious spy-esque espionage thrillers (sort of accommodating a James Bond vibe), then I'll bet all the absurdly goofy monster nonsense is just going to put you off seeing this entirely. So ultimately, what you basically have is a commercialised big-budget summer movie that's made for no one because it doesn't know what audience it's trying to appease/appeal to. Like the old saying goes; "if you try way too hard to please everyone, then you'll end up pleasing no one at all." Even people that were perfectly satisfied with the first one will most likely be disappointed by this muddled sequel and won't enjoy it as much (this actually made me miss the first Meg).