Editorials
‘The Meg’ vs. ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ – Which Film Has the Strongest Bite?
The following contains major spoilers for The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench.
Sharksploitation movies live and die based on the strength of their bite. In order to make us afraid to go in the water, genre filmmakers usually deploy a barrage of visual and practical effects to bring to life the ocean’s most feared predator: the shark. Of the many aquatic horror films to hit the screen, few have featured teeth so big and vicious as The Meg.
Jon Turteltaub’s action-packed shark film brings to life Otodus megalodon, the largest predator the world has ever known. Thought to be extinct, a group of oceanic explorers discover this prehistoric shark species lurking beneath the thermocline, a temperature barrier near the ocean floor. A box office hit, The Meg won over audiences with its splashy energy, dynamic special effects, and a captivating performance from action star Jason Statham. Five years later, the giant sharks are back in a new film directed by Ben Wheatley.
Opening with a prehistoric Meg decimating a Tyrannosaurus Rex followed by a baby Meg living in captivity, Meg 2: The Trench doubles down on everything that made Turteltaub’s film a surprise success. But which has more teeth? Let’s break down each sharkstravaganza in a series of head-to-head matchups to find out which Megalodon outing has the strongest bite.
Beneath the Thermocline vs. Inside the Trench
Though both films begin with death-defying escapes, the trouble kicks off in earnest due to exploratory trips beneath the thermocline. Turteltaub begins with a jaw-dropping tour of Mana One, an oceanic research facility led by Dr. Minway Zhang (Winston Chao). Billionaire investor Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson) joins the team just moments before launching a mission to explore the deepest reaches of the Mariana Trench. Having ventured below the thermocline, the entire crew gazes in awe at this newly discovered stretch of ocean before a mysterious predator attacks the institute’s submersible. The three scientists trapped inside must wait until rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) can bring them back from the ocean floor.
Set several years later, Wheatley’s film introduces us to a crew now accustomed to these dangerous missions. Having previously completed 26 trips beneath the thermocline, Mana One oceanographers embark on another exploratory journey in two submersibles outfitted with predator-repelling technology. However, these heightened defenses don’t protect them from nefarious humans. Along the trench, they stumble upon an illegal drilling operation which promptly explodes, sending dangerous debris rocketing across the ocean floor. With no rescue in sight, the stranded crew dons exosuits to walk across the trench to the nearest man-made shelter.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
Our first trip down to the ocean depths may be exciting, but, like the crew, we view most of the mission from within the sub. Of course this builds to a stunning reveal just moments later, but it’s difficult to get our bearings in these exploratory scenes. In a sharp contrast, Wheatley spends a significant portion of the film on the ocean floor. Not only do we see exciting underwater explosions and dangerous terrain, but we get to enjoy the stunning beauty of the trench as the crew slowly makes their way back to the station.
Morris vs. Driscoll
Though massive megalodons are the ostensible villains, both films see corporate greed take center stage. Morris appears supportive, relying on the expertise of Zhang and his team. However, after several run-ins with the newly discovered Meg, he decides to surreptitiously take matters into his own hands. Hoping to avoid lawsuits while capitalizing on this surprise return on his oceanic investment, Morris pretends to notify local government authorities, but secretly commissions his own team to kill the giant shark. Perhaps predictably, the mogul’s ill-informed plans go disastrously wrong and he winds up killed by the very teeth he hoped to collect.
Five years later, the research facility is now run by Dr. Zhang’s son Jiuming (Jing Wu) along with wealthy financier Hillary Driscoll (Sienna Guillory). Unfortunately, her zeal for marine conservation hides a darker greed. With the help of a spy lurking among the researchers, Driscoll has been using the drilling operation to mine lucrative resources from the ocean floor. Having revealed her true colors, this short-sighted villain attempts to kill everyone on board the Mana One to maintain her oceanic gravy train, not to mention her image as a glamorous philanthropist.
WINNER: The Meg
While neither of these villains is particularly competent, Morris’s plot line at least has some substance. Though it’s an incredibly fun film, the biggest strike against Meg 2: The Trench is its shallow villain and her flimsy motive. Driscoll’s eventual death at the hands of the very teeth she intended to exploit may feel cathartic, but her story essentially boils down to “rich lady gonna evil.” Played by the charismatic Rainn Wilson, Morris feels like a believable mogul. Armed with little more than money and a knowledge of Shark Week, his incompetence not only sets up a logical final act, but delivers a fun moment of well-deserved comeuppance.
Squid vs. Octopus
In addition to massive, tooth-lined jaws, both films include their fair share of tentacles. When oceanographer Suyin Zhang (Bingbing Li) attempts to rescue the stranded crew herself, she encounters another dangerous predator near the ocean floor. Giant tentacles wrap around the hull of her sub as a giant squid tries to devour the underwater vehicle. Moments before these strong appendages can smash the ship’s glass sphere, the squid releases its grip. Suyin gazes up in wonder as the Megalodon swims above her with the colossal squid locked in its even bigger jaws.
While Turteltaub uses the squid for a thrilling reveal, Wheatley saves his monster for the finale. As the scientists struggle to walk back to Mana One, murky tentacles drift through a rupture in the thermocline. What’s later revealed to be a giant octopus eventually follows the Megs to feed on obnoxious swimmers at a nearby resort called Fun Island. Lurking just below the surface, this giant cephalopod reaches up through the wooden docks and tosses people around like toys. Jiuming takes on the beast and stabs it with a homemade bomb, but not before it can terrorize a handful of swimmers and take down a passing helicopter. The resulting explosion leads to an underwater battle that sees two Megalodons fight the squirming cephalopod.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
Turteltaub’s squid provides a fantastic introduction to the film’s aquatic star, but Wheatley’s octopus handily takes the victory in this matchup. Delivering on the promise of vague tentacles drifting up to the surface, Wheatley centers much of the final battle on this creature’s destruction, providing one of the most exciting sequences of both films.
Heller vs. Montes
Before breaching the thermocline, both films begin with a window into Jonas’s past. The Meg features a flashback to a doomed mission to explore the Mariana Trench. Attacked by a mysterious predator, Jonas was forced to save the rest of the crew by leaving two divers behind to die. Fellow survivor Dr. Heller (Robert Taylor) believes Jonas imagined the shadowy monster, caving under pressure and creating an unbelievable story to avoid the guilt of abandoning his friends. When Jonas arrives at Mana One, he’s shocked to find Dr. Heller serving as the facility’s medical officer. Remembering their past encounter, Dr. Heller reports that he is mentally unstable and tries to keep him from diving to rescue another crew. Dr. Heller may be an early antagonist, but he apologizes to Jonas once he realizes that the traumatized diver was right all along. He also sacrifices his life for another colleague, diverting attention away from the Meg so that his friends can swim to safety.
Rejoining Jonas five years later, we learn that he has become a trusted member of the research team. However, he moonlights as an eco-terrorist, sabotaging corporations dumping toxic chemicals into the ocean. Heading up Dricoll’s illegal drilling operation is Montes (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a mercenary once sent to a Manilla prison by Jonas’s investigations. The hardened criminal still holds a grudge and spends most of the movie trying to kill his old nemesis. Compared to Dr. Heller, Montes turns out to be a much more formidable foe. He callously kills his employees by blowing up the underwater mine and tries to murder Jonas several times throughout the film. Despite his physical prowess, he proves to be no match for the Megs and winds up suffering the same fate as the well-meaning doctor.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
It’s a tough call because Dr. Heller is a much more developed and believable character. We learn basically nothing about Montes aside from his grudge against Jonas and his relationship with the duplicitous Jess (Skyler Samuels). He essentially serves as a human shark, lurking in the shadows and waiting for his moment to take Jonas out. However, based simply on the fierceness of his bite, we’re giving this one to the mustache-twirling villain.
Tracker Dart Swim vs. Jet Ski Harpoon
After setting the table with scientific discoveries, both films get down to the meat and potatoes of shark horror. Having reached the surface, Jonas and his respective teams find themselves tasked with stopping the sharks before they can make it to shore. Turteltaub begins the action-packed chapter with a plan to place a tracker on the fin of the Meg. Hoping to avoid the gaze of the massive fish, he’s able to swim to within 100 yards of the beast and land the tiny tracking dart before the wench pulling him back to the boat catches the shark’s attention. Jonas narrowly escapes the massive jaws and gnashing teeth before his friend Mac (Cliff Curtis) pulls him back onto the boat.
The second film sees no less than three Megs pursuing our fearless hero. With only one jet ski available on the Fun Island shores, Jonas sets off with a trio of homemade harpoons strapped to his back. This thrilling chase follows Jonas as he zips through waves narrowly avoiding gigantic jaws at every turn. Not knowing whether the makeshift devices will work, Jonas takes his shot. He plunges one of the harpoons into the Meg and blows off the top of its head.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
Taylor’s initial swim with the Meg is no doubt impressive. However, it pales in comparison to this thrilling chase. Not only do we get the speed and splash of the jet ski, this action sequence proves to be one of the highlights of the film and ushers us into a final act of non-stop creature chaos.
Boat Bash vs. Station Destruction
The gargantuan fish in these films don’t just rip through the bodies of those unfortunate enough to fall into the water. The first boats to encounter the original Meg, three shark-fishing vessels, are completely destroyed by the apex predator, a fitting punishment for heinous animal cruelty. Unfortunately, Dr. Zhang’s own boat faces the shark’s wrath as well. After Suyin nearly dies in a shark-proof diving tube, the team sets a trap for the Meg that winds up toppling the ship’s heavy cranes. Having hoisted the carcass up on the deck, the crew of the Mana One take a moment to relax before bringing the huge specimen back to the lab. They’re celebrating their victory when a second, even larger Meg surges up from the deep, smashing the boat and sending its passengers flying out into the water.
Among the many hazards of walking across the ocean floor, limited oxygen in the exosuits quickly becomes a deadly concern. Spying a station for the illegal drilling operation, Jonas and the remaining survivors hurry into enemy territory hoping for breathable air. Moments before entering the station, they’re attacked by a swarm of prehistoric dinosaur/fish hybrids who’ve managed to survive for 65 million years alongside the Megs. Known in Steve Alten’s source material “The Trench” as Kronosaurs, these snapping nightmares disorient the crew and draw the attention of two large megalodons. With sharp teeth at every turn, these creatures bite, rip, and smash the station which rains down on the frightened survivors as they rush towards the open gate.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
The underwater station collapse is the clear winner in this matchup simply because of the sheer amount of teeth involved. Are these Kronosaurs real? Who cares! They add an element of the unknown to this aquatic adventure story and keep Wheatley’s sequel from merely rehashing the plot of the first film.
Crowded Beach vs. Fun Island
In addition to teeth, any shark film worthy of the genre needs an exciting “GET OUT OF THE WATER” sequence and both directors conclude their films by following the humongous predators to crowded beaches. Turteltaub’s Meg attacks a shoreline filled to the brim with intertubes, rafts, and obnoxious crowds. We begin from the fish’s point of view as the enormous animal surveys the tiny humans floating at the surface. Turteltaub also gives us ominous overhead shots in which the massive predator can clearly be seen swimming beneath the oblivious crowds. Catching itself on the heavy chains anchoring a series of floating docks, the shark begins to chow down on swimmers, kicking the carnage off in earnest. Luckily, it’s not able to eat too many vacationers before Jonas and his team arrive.
Mirroring the final act of the first film, Meg 2: The Trench stages a sequence of aquatic chaos on the sunny shores of Fun Island. After taking out an entire booze cruise, the Megs make their way to shore and begin to tear through divers. Wheatley doubles down on the brutality, as hordes of people are chomped, ripped in half, and swallowed whole by the hungry Megs including a brutal POV shot from inside the cavernous jaws. Not to be outdone, the Megs must contend with a giant octopus vying for its own prey as well as the ambulatory Kronosaurs who chase their victims out of the water and onto dry land.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
There’s really no contest here. Turteltaub’s beach invasion is a savage moment of horror compounded by the sheer size of the Meg’s gaping jaws. However, Wheatley outdoes himself with a terrifically frightening sequence of non-stop chaos on land and sea. This outsized final act may defy logic, but it’s the cinematic equivalent of throwing all your toys into the swimming pool and staging your own aquatic Royal Rumble.
Propeller Stab vs. Submarine Slice
The surrounding circumstances may vary wildly, but both films conclude with Jonas using a damaged vehicle to take out the last remaining Meg. While trying to fire a torpedo at the gigantic animal, Jonas realizes that his sub has been damaged. With the Meg barreling toward him, Jonas maneuvers the ship and drags the twisted metal arm along the underside of the shark’s belly, spilling blood into the ocean. Exiting the sub, he stabs the Meg in the eye with a harpoon then swims away as hundreds of oceanic sharks devour the hemorrhaging creature.
Amidst the chaos of Wheatley’s Fun Island massacre, Jonas spots two of his friends in trouble. Jiuming rushes to drag the injured Mac out of a downed helicopter before it can sink too far underwater. Spying the Meg just yards away, Jonas swims toward the wreckage to divert the shark’s attention. Reaching the tiny outcropping, he grabs a stray propeller and prepares to strike. He raises the long blade in the air just as the giant jaws close in for the kill, impaling the Meg and driving the makeshift weapon through the back of the fish’s head.
WINNER: The Meg
The original climactic showdown is not only thrilling but somewhat plausible. Turteltaub’s gigantic shark jumps high into the air with Jonas riding the wave of water just inches away from its gnashing teeth. There’s a haunting beauty in the Meg silently falling to the sea floor with clouds of blood billowing through the water not to mention the poetic justice of nature restoring the balance and taking care of its own.
GRAND CHAMPION:
The Meg – 2
Meg 2: The Trench – 6
One of Turtletaub’s best characters is the charmingly cautious DJ (Page Kennedy), pilot of the facility’s underwater rover. This non-swimmer provides much of the film’s humor by insisting they remain at the station and reminding his teammates that swimming was not a part of his job description. Vowing to quit at the end of the first film, DJ returns to Wheatley’s Mana One ready for battle. He’s spent the past five years acquainting himself with the water, learning hand-to-hand combat, and creating an emergency pack that he carries wherever he goes. DJ’s transformation mirrors the comparison between The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench. Turteltaub’s original is arguably the better film with a logical plot and reasonably developed characters. However, Wheatley’s sequel turns the action knobs up to 11 and floods his film with ferocious predators to compensate for weaknesses in the script.
Both films rise to the top of a vast sea of shark horror, but Meg 2: The Trench brings these titanic predators back with a vengeance along with plenty of toothy friends.
Soon after the New Hollywood generation took over the entertainment industry, they started having children. And more than any filmmakers that came before—they were terrified. Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), Eraserhead (1977), The Brood (1979), The Shining (1980), Possession (1981), and many others all deal, at least in part, with the fears of becoming or being a parent. What if my child turns out to be a monster? is corrupted by some evil force? or turns out to be the fucking Antichrist? What if I screw them up somehow, or can’t help them, or even go insane and try to kill them? Horror has always been at its best when exploring relatable fears through extreme circumstances. A prime example of this is Larry Cohen’s 1974 monster-baby movie It’s Alive, which explores the not only the rollercoaster of emotions that any parent experiences when confronted with the difficulties of raising a child, but long-standing questions of who or what is at fault when something goes horribly wrong.
Cohen begins making his underlying points early in the film as Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) discusses the state of the world with a group of expectant fathers in a hospital waiting room. They discuss the “overabundance of lead” in foods and the environment, smog, and pesticides that only serve to produce roaches that are “bigger, stronger, and harder to kill.” Frank comments that this is “quite a world to bring a kid into.” This has long been a discussion point among people when trying to decide whether to have kids or not. I’ve had many conversations with friends who have said they feel it’s irresponsible to bring children into such a violent, broken, and dangerous world, and I certainly don’t begrudge them this. My wife and I did decide to have children but that doesn’t mean that it’s been easy.
Immediately following this scene comes It’s Alive’s most famous sequence in which Frank’s wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell) is the only person left alive in her delivery room, the doctors clawed and bitten to death by her mutant baby, which has escaped. “What does my baby look like!? What’s wrong with my baby!?” she screams as nurses wheel her frantically into a recovery room. The evening that had begun with such joy and excitement at the birth of their second child turned into a nightmare. This is tough for me to write, but on some level, I can relate to this whiplash of emotion. When my second child was born, they came about five weeks early. I’ll use the pronouns “they/them” for privacy reasons when referring to my kids. Our oldest was still very young and went to stay with my parents and we sped off to the hospital where my wife was taken into an operating room for an emergency c-section. I was able to carry our newborn into the NICU (natal intensive care unit) where I was assured that this was routine for all premature births. The nurses assured me there was nothing to worry about and the baby looked big and healthy. I headed to where my wife was taken to recover to grab a few winks assuming that everything was fine. Well, when I awoke, I headed back over to the NICU to find that my child was not where I left them. The nurse found me and told me that the baby’s lungs were underdeveloped, and they had to put them in a special room connected to oxygen tubes and wires to monitor their vitals.
It’s difficult to express the fear that overwhelmed me in those moments. Everything turned out okay, but it took a while and I’m convinced to this day that their anxiety struggles spring from these first weeks of life. As our children grew, we learned that two of the three were on the spectrum and that anxiety, depression, ADHD, and OCD were also playing a part in their lives. Parents, at least speaking for myself, can’t help but blame themselves for the struggles their children face. The “if only” questions creep in and easily overcome the voices that assure us that it really has nothing to do with us. In the film, Lenore says, “maybe it’s all the pills I’ve been taking that brought this on.” Frank muses aloud about how he used to think that Frankenstein was the monster, but when he got older realized he was the one that made the monster. The aptly named Frank is wondering if his baby’s mutation is his fault, if he created the monster that is terrorizing Los Angeles. I have made plenty of “if only” statements about myself over the years. “If only I hadn’t had to work so much, if only I had been around more when they were little.” Mothers may ask themselves, “did I have a drink, too much coffee, or a cigarette before I knew I was pregnant? Was I too stressed out during the pregnancy?” In other words, most parents can’t help but wonder if it’s all their fault.
At one point in the film, Frank goes to the elementary school where his baby has been sighted and is escorted through the halls by police. He overhears someone comment about “screwed up genes,” which brings about age-old questions of nature vs. nurture. Despite the voices around him from doctors and detectives that say, “we know this isn’t your fault,” Frank can’t help but think it is, and that the people who try to tell him it isn’t really think it’s his fault too. There is no doubt that there is a hereditary element to the kinds of mental illness struggles that my children and I deal with. But, and it’s a bit but, good parenting goes a long way in helping children deal with these struggles. Kids need to know they’re not alone, a good parent can provide that, perhaps especially parents that can relate to the same kinds of struggles. The question of nature vs. nurture will likely never be entirely answered but I think there’s more than a good chance that “both/and” is the case. Around the midpoint of the film, Frank agrees to disown the child and sign it over for medical experimentation if caught or killed. Lenore and the older son Chris (Daniel Holzman) seek to nurture and teach the baby, feeling that it is not a monster, but a member of the family.
It’s Alive takes these ideas to an even greater degree in the fact that the Davis Baby really is a monster, a mutant with claws and fangs that murders and eats people. The late ’60s and early ’70s also saw the rise in mass murderers and serial killers which heightened the nature vs. nurture debate. Obviously, these people were not literal monsters but human beings that came from human parents, but something had gone horribly wrong. Often the upbringing of these killers clearly led in part to their antisocial behavior, but this isn’t always the case. It’s Alive asks “what if a ‘monster’ comes from a good home?” In this case is it society, environmental factors, or is it the lead, smog, and pesticides? It is almost impossible to know, but the ending of the film underscores an uncomfortable truth—even monsters have parents.
As the film enters its third act, Frank joins the hunt for his child through the Los Angeles sewers and into the L.A. River. He is armed with a rifle and ready to kill on sight, having divorced himself from any relationship to the child. Then Frank finds his baby crying in the sewers and his fatherly instincts take over. With tears in his eyes, he speaks words of comfort and wraps his son in his coat. He holds him close, pats and rocks him, and whispers that everything is going to be okay. People often wonder how the parents of those who perform heinous acts can sit in court, shed tears, and defend them. I think it’s a complex issue. I’m sure that these parents know that their child has done something evil, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still their baby. Your child is a piece of yourself formed into a whole new human being. Disowning them would be like cutting off a limb, no matter what they may have done. It doesn’t erase an evil act, far from it, but I can understand the pain of a parent in that situation. I think It’s Alive does an exceptional job placing its audience in that situation.
Despite the serious issues and ideas being examined in the film, It’s Alive is far from a dour affair. At heart, it is still a monster movie and filled with a sense of fun and a great deal of pitch-black humor. In one of its more memorable moments, a milkman is sucked into the rear compartment of his truck as red blood mingles with the white milk from smashed bottles leaking out the back of the truck and streaming down the street. Just after Frank agrees to join the hunt for his baby, the film cuts to the back of an ice cream truck with the words “STOP CHILDREN” emblazoned on it. It’s a movie filled with great kills, a mutant baby—created by make-up effects master Rick Baker early in his career, and plenty of action—and all in a PG rated movie! I’m telling you, the ’70s were wild. It just also happens to have some thoughtful ideas behind it as well.
Which was Larry Cohen’s specialty. Cohen made all kinds of movies, but his most enduring have been his horror films and all of them tackle the social issues and fears of the time they were made. God Told Me To (1976), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), and The Stuff (1985) are all great examples of his socially aware, low-budget, exploitation filmmaking with a brain and It’s Alive certainly fits right in with that group. Cohen would go on to write and direct two sequels, It Lives Again (aka It’s Alive 2) in 1978 and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive in 1987 and is credited as a co-writer on the 2008 remake. All these films explore the ideas of parental responsibility in light of the various concerns of the times they were made including abortion rights and AIDS.
Fifty years after It’s Alive was initially released, it has only become more relevant in the ensuing years. Fears surrounding parenthood have been with us since the beginning of time but as the years pass the reasons for these fears only seem to become more and more profound. In today’s world the conversation of the fathers in the waiting room could be expanded to hormones and genetic modifications in food, terrorism, climate change, school and other mass shootings, and other threats that were unknown or at least less of a concern fifty years ago. Perhaps the fearmongering conspiracy theories about chemtrails and vaccines would be mentioned as well, though in a more satirical fashion, as fears some expectant parents encounter while endlessly doomscrolling Facebook or Twitter. Speaking for myself, despite the struggles, the fears, and the sadness that sometimes comes with having children, it’s been worth it. The joys ultimately outweigh all of that, but I understand the terror too. Becoming a parent is no easy choice, nor should it be. But as I look back, I can say that I’m glad we made the choice we did.
I wonder if Frank and Lenore can say the same thing.
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