History Film / Meg2TheTrench

* RealityIsRealistic: While the opening scene in the prehistoric past where the Megalodon leaps out of the water to grab a ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'' may seem like an example of pure Hollywood spectacle inspired by the ''Mosasaurus'' killing the ''Indominus Rex'' in ''Film/JurassicWorld'' with zero basis in the real world, however in reality this act of a large aquatic predator throwing itself onto land to grab its prey actually does occur in the natural world, ''Orcas'' (Killer Whales) will hunt in a very similar manner by deliberately [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E1dg9pVQp3M beaching themselves in order to catch sea lions]].

* BehemothBattle: Between one of the megs and an equally huge octopus.

* InertialImpalement: The final wild meg [[spoiler:is killed when Jonas draws it towards him at an angle where it basically jumps onto the blade of a crashed helicopter, allowing Jonas to impale the meg through the mouth]].

* MisplacedWildlife: Aside from the sequel carrying on the premise from the first movie that Megalodon have survived into the 21st century, the opening prologue set 65 million years ago is clearly playing for RuleOfCool with a [[AlwaysABiggerFish Meg shown hunting a T. Rex]] due to the fact that these two species never coexisted. UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex along with all other non-avian dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period 43 million years before Megalodon occupied the earth. This actually gets [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in revised editions of the first [[Literature/{{Meg}} novel]] which has this being a fictional scenario as part of a presentation by Jonas.

-->'''DJ''': [''as he shoots Snappers''] Hell yeah! Get some! Who says a .50 caliber is an impractical round?

''Meg 2: The Trench'' is a 2023 science fiction action {{Kaiju}} film and a sequel to 2018’s ''Film/TheMeg'', based upon the novel ''[[Literature/{{Meg}} The Trench]]'' by Steve Alten. It is directed by Creator/BenWheatley and stars Creator/JasonStatham, Creator/WuJing, Creator/SiennaGuillory, Creator/CliffCurtis, Creator/SkylerSamuels, Creator/PageKennedy, Creator/ShuyaSophiaCai, and [[Creator/SergioPerisMencheta Sergio Peris-Mencheta]].

* TookALevelInBadass: Since the previous film, DJ has become an expert in firearms, hand-to-hand combat, survival [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and has learned how to swim]].

-->'''Jonas''' There's a million assholes in this world. It's hard to remember them all.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Jess starts out as an affable Mana One tech whom everyone seems to get along with; about halfway through she reveals herself as TheMole, working alongside Driscoll and Montes to illegally mine the trench for rare minerals, showing no remorse when her actions get Lance, Sal, and Curtis killed, and actively trying to murder Jonas and his surviving crew after her attempt to strand them fails.]]

* ExplosiveDecompression: Inverted both ways. [[spoiler: Curtis's helmet ''implodes'', compressing around her skull after taking integral damage at depth and it happens gradually enough that she survives the journey back to the station and her companions are forced to watch it happen while Jiuming futilely tries to reassure her.]]

* MisplacedWildlife: Aside from the sequel carrying on the premise from the first movie that Megalodon have survived into the 21st century, the opening prologue set 65 million years ago is clearly playing for RuleOfCool with a [[AlwaysABiggerFish Meg shown hunting a T. Rex]] due to the fact that these two species never coexisted. UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex along with all other non-avian dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period 43 million years before Megalodon occupied the earth. This actually gets [[LampShaded Lampshaded]] in revised editions of the first [[Literature/{{Meg}} novel]] which has this being a fictional scenario as part of a presentation by Jonas.

* ColdBloodedWhatever: The Snappers are predatory, semi-aquatic creatures which resemble an amalgamation of fish, amphibian, and reptile traits, such as a vaguely monitor lizard-like body shape, shark-like jaws and gills, fish-like scales, a flattened salamander-like tail and body markings, and being equally at home underwater as on land.

* MisplacedWildlife: Aside from the sequel carrying on the premise from the first movie that Megalodon have survived into the 21st century, the opening prologue set 65 million years ago is clearly playing for RuleOfCool with a [[AlwaysABiggerFish Meg shown hunting a T. Rex]] due to the fact that these two species never coexisted. UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex along with all other non-avian dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period 43 million years before Megalodon occupied the earth. This actually gets [[LampShaded Lampshaded]] in revised editions of the first Literature/{{Meg}} novel which has this being a fictional scenario as part of a presentation by Jonas.

* ImmuneToBullets: The Snappers appear to be this. Driscoll's mercenaries shoot them at point blank, but the bullets don't seem to have any impact. [[spoiler:The protagonists have much better luck handling the Snappers by blowing them up with gasoline tanks or a broken off shovel's wooden handle]].

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. [[spoiler: Sal and Driscoll get messily devoured and Curtis's skull caves in after her helmet gets damaged at several thousand feet below sea level.]]

* ChekhovsGun:
** Downplayed with DJ's pistol with poisoned bullets. One would think it would see some sort of use against the sharks, but never does. It does, however, save Meiying from one of the marine reptiles at the end.
** Strongly averted with Jiuming's signalling device, despite being introduced very early in the film. It ''never'' seems to work properly on Haiqi, even during the climax where it has him, Jonas and Mac at its mercy, and it's left to the viewer's interpretation as to whether he's just lucky or there are other factors at play.

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Averted. Three named female characters as well as numerous unnamed female vacationers fall prey to one monster or another, and a fourth suffers fatal head trauma when her helmet takes damage at extreme depth.

** [[spoiler:Sal]] is a disturbing aversion. Rather than get swallowed whole, [[spoiler:the Meg crushes her between its jaws, before eating her]].

* ObliviousToTheirOwnDescription: The obnoxious CasanovaWannabe who keeps harassing women at Fun Island for their affection with [[TerriblePickupLines phony pickup tactics]] complains to a business associate on the phone for ruining his vacation yelling "Who ruins paradise for other people?!" with the same women staring at him for disturbing their peace.

* ObliviousToTheirOwnDescription: The obnoxious CasanovaWannabe who keeps harassing women at Fun Island for their affection with [[TerriblePickupLines phony pickup tactics]] complains to a business associate on the phone for ruining his vacation.

** The Tyrannosaurus Rex seen in the opening sequence is a dead ringer for the T-Rexes from Franchise/JurassicPark, right down to the color scheme. The Megalodon breaching up behind it and dragging it down into the depths is a rather obvious riff on the Indominus' death scene in ''Film/JurassicWorld''. There are other references to ''Jurassic Park'' as well, particularly the Snapper attack on Montes and his mercenaries being reminiscent of the raptors hunting Muldoon, and the treacherous human villain being EatenAlive in their getaway vehicle.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** The rest of the crew of Mana One is shown to be rounded up by the mercenaries and locked in their rooms. After Jonas and his group leave Mana One the mercenaries all follow and nothing is ever brought up about the imprisoned workers. Not helped is that thanks to the attack of [[spoiler: Jess]] Mana One now has a massive breach and is unstable.
** Out of the returning characters from the previous movie, there is no mention of Jaxx at all.

* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome:
** [[spoiler: Jonas' love interest Suyin has passed away between the first movie and this one. The circumstances are left vague but Jonas is now raising her daughter himself.]]
** While not dead, there is no mention of Rubi Rose's character at all. She is conspicuously missing from the film.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The rest of the crew of Mana One is shown to be rounded up by the mercenaries and locked in their rooms. After Jonas and his group leave Mana One the mercenaries all follow and nothing is ever brought up about the imprisoned workers. Not helped is that thanks to the attack of [[spoiler: Jess]] Mana One now has a massive breach and is unstable.