Rotten Tomatoes critics were surprisingly disappointed with how "Meg 2: The Trench" is occupied with elevating itself instead of fully leaning into its insane premise. "'Meg 2' is burdened with an actual plot," lamented Graeme Tuckett of Stuff. Tuckett continued by pointing out that when the film does find itself interested in sharks, they look awful. "And when they do, they are such clearly CGI creations, it really does look as though Statham and chums are being attacked by characters from an animation that have stumbled into the wrong film," Tuckett continued.
Collider wasn't impressed with the sci-fi aquatic sequel either. Critic Marco Vito Oddo expressed how the sequel failed to dive deep into the world of campiness and horror, instead trying its best to be taken seriously as an action franchise — and failing at it miserably. "[The film] repeats the error of the first movie's shark-punching extravaganza by failing to embrace the campiness of its concept and trying to make something serious out of it," wrote Oddo, awarding Ben Wheatley's sequel a C+ rating. Deadline couldn't get invested in the sequel's action sequences, saying, "At several points along the way you could bang your hand to your forehead in reaction to how random and non-transporting the action is, even when there's a great deal of it."
Well, a movie about giant sharks certainly won't appeal to everyone. Is the film fun at least? CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg was particularly disappointed in the film, saying the sequel "wants to just be seen as dumb fun, but it doesn't earn it." As it stands, "Meg 2: The Trench" boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score of 20%. That number will likely change as more reviews trickle in.
