Statham's Shark Sequel Dominates Prime Video Charts
The action star's latest prehistoric predator battle climbs streaming rankings despite harsh reviews, proving audiences crave campy creature feature thrills over critical acclaim.
Jason Statham has battled countless foes throughout his career. Fighting prehistoric sharks twice proved too much for critics, but viewers devoured this absurd creature feature. The Meg 2: The Trench now dominates Prime Video's streaming rankings and might crack the top five this weekend.
The original Meg delivered exactly what it promised: a B-movie monster flick with Statham channeling his inner shark hunter. Think Jaws' Martin Brody with more muscles and less subtlety. Critics hated it, but the film earned $529 mn worldwide. That success guaranteed a sequel with everything cranked up several notches.
Bigger Sharks, Bigger Stakes
Five years later, The Meg 2: The Trench surfaced with Statham facing another massive predator from the Mariana Trench. Based on Steve Alten's 1999 sequel novel, the plot matters little when audiences just want giant sharks eating people.
The official synopsis promises chaos: "Dive into uncharted waters with Jason Statham and global action icon Wu Jing as they lead a daring research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean. Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Pitted against colossal Megs and relentless environmental plunderers, our heroes must outrun, outsmart, and outswim their merciless predators in a pulse-pounding race against time."
CGI Spectacle Over Suspense
Spielberg's Jaws became legendary partly because technical problems kept the mechanical shark offscreen. That limitation created masterful suspense. The Meg franchise takes the opposite approach: audiences want to see fearsome CGI sharks wreaking havoc in impossible scenarios.
Critics slammed The Meg 2 with a brutal 27% rating. Audiences disagreed completely, giving it 72% approval. One reviewer called it "An absolute blast of high budget camp." Another noted that if you want "a movie that isn't trying to be a comedy but is just hilariously ridiculous, you have come to the right place."
Love It or Hate It
Not everyone bought into the campy fun. Plenty of one-star reviews labeled it the "worst movie of the year" and "one of the most stupid movies made in the last decade."
Statham doesn't make subtle films. His fans know exactly what they're getting when his name tops the credits. The Meg 2 delivered for those people. No third movie has been announced, but stranger things have happened in Hollywood.