Meg 2: The Trench(2023)

Submitted by Evan B

Pooper:
The corporate villains mining the trench are all defeated and killed (and most of them eaten by the prehistoric beasts). Two megalodons and the giant octopus are killed, but one presumably pregnant megalodon makes it out alive into the open ocean.

Long Ending:
In prehistoric times, amphibious creatures called snappers (similar to a cross between a salamander and a crocodile) flee out of the water onto the shore. A T-Rex bursts out of the nearby woods and leaps into the shallows. It roars at the snappers before snatching one up in its jaws for a snack. As the puzzled T-Rex watchers the snappers continue to flee to the shore (seemingly unafraid of the Rex), a massive megalodon (a giant prehistoric shark, referred to as a “Meg”) leaps out of the water and devours the T-Rex.

In the modern day, we see that Jonas (Jason Statham) is going around the globe engaging in undercover operations to collect evidence to bring down eco-terrorists. He is also employed by a company owned by Meiying’s (Shuya Sophia Cai) uncle Jiuming (Jing Wu). Jiuming’s company explores the Trench where prehistoric creatures still live to this day (sustained by the superheated water in the Trench) and also is raising a captive megalodon named Haiqi that Jiuming has been trying to train. Jonas and Jiuming are co-parenting Meiying after her mother passed away since the last film. Jonas’ friends DJ (Page Kennedy) and Mac (Cliff Curtis) also work for the company. Their work is funded with the help of wealthy philanthroper Driscoll (Sienna Guillory).

Jonas and company fly to an ocean platform that serves as their base of operations to explore the Trench. Jonas and Jiuming each pilot a submersible with a small team into the Trench to explore while Mac, DJ, and scientist Jess (Skyler Samuels) assist from a control room. Meiying sneaks aboard Jonas’ submersible before it launches. To everyone’s surprise, they discover that Haiqi has escaped her pen and followed them to the Trench. They tail the Meg to an uncharted part of the Trench where they see she’s joined with two other Megalodons, and the giant sharks begin mating. They also find an illegal mining operation working in the previously unexplored part of the Trench. The operation is harvesting rare Earth Metals and destroying the local prehistoric life that lives therein. The head of the operation, a man named Montes (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), notices the heroes’ submersibles and detonates some explosives in an effort to kill them. Although both submersibles are damaged, the crews survive. The crews walk across the ocean floor in order to get to the safety of the mining facility (and three crew members are killed on the journey). They wrest control of the facility from Montes (who holds a grudge against Jonas since Jonas’ undercover work led to his arrest years ago) and discover that the mining operation is actually being financed and overseen by Driscoll and Jess (who plan to make billions off the operation). All the survivors manage to make it back to the station at the surface. But Montes’ explosions caused the water to heat up, allowing the three Megs, a bunch of snappers, and a giant octopus to also escape the Trench into the ocean. The Megs attack the base before heading towards a nearby island. The surviving heroes follow closely, as does Montes (Jess is eaten by a Meg during the attack). Driscoll hires mercenaries to accompany her to the island so they can kill anyone who sees the escaped creatures and take credit for saving the day.

The prehistoric creatures, mercenaries, and heroes all show up at the island at the same time, and all-out pandemonium ensues. The amphibious Snappers gobble up mercenaries on the land (and eat Driscoll), the octopus plucks partiers off the dock with its tentacles, and the Megs swallow up dozens of swimmers at a time. Meiying saves some of the beachgoers while Jiuming injures the octopus with a homemade bomb. The injured octopus is finally taken out after it fights a Megalodon and loses. Jonas takes out one Meg with an explosive-tipped harpoon he rigged together but is soon distracted by Montes, who begins shooting at him. Jonas and Montes fight on a dock, and Montes is injured, with his blood falling into the water. Jonas kicks him into the mouth of a Megalodon that was attracted to the blood. Jonas then manages to kill another Meg by impaling it on some debris when it tries to eat him.

The heroes are left stranded without weapons when Haiqi approaches to eat them. Jiuming uses a training technique he worked on with Haiqi in captivity that is supposed to get Haiqi to retreat. To everyone’s relief, the trick seemingly works, and Haiqi turns around and swims out to the ocean (however, Jonas thinks that Haiqi left them alone to pursue a school of dolphins that happened to pass by at that time). The heroes and survivors all collect on the beach to celebrate that they are still alive. Mac speculates that Haiqi is pregnant, meaning that while they’ve won the day, new Megalodons may soon roam the open seas.

Order of Deaths:

1. Montes’ mining crew – Killed when he detonates the mining explosives in an effort to sink the heroes’ submersibles.
2. Three members of Jonas and Jiuming’s crew – One dies when a giant creature kills him offscreen. A second is devoured by snappers while trying to get to the mining station. A third has her head popped when her diving helmet cracks apart after she’s attacked by underwater creatures, and the pressure implodes her head.
3. Various mercenaries – After they attack the base, many are eaten when the Megs attack.
4. Jess – She declares the ocean platform to be “Meg-proof,” only to be eaten by one seconds later when a Meg shatters the underwater window she’s standing next to and gobbles her up.
5. Driscoll – As she tries to escape in a helicopter, a snapper sneaks in and drags her into the brush, where she’s eaten alive.
6. Numerous tourists and mercenaries – Devoured, crushed, or torn apart by snappers, megalodons, and the giant octopus. But the dog from the first film once again survives.
7. Montes – He is wounded while fighting Jonas. His blood falls into the water and attracts a Meg. Jonas kicks Montes off the dock and into the waiting jaws of a megalodon.