Memory–especially after the past 19 months–can be a bit less than accurate at times. But as I remember right this moment, one Friday afternoon, my parents came back from a doctor’s appointment Dad had. His face was reddish and I could tell HE was very emotional, like something had “happened.”
What I got from what he said was that X-rays had showed something with his lungs, as well as likely kidney failure, or something to that effect. (notice my lack of exact memories on that now…) Cuz it turned out to be fluid in his lungs–which was able to be drained; and something about the doctor wanted to “keep an eye on” something with the kidneys to AVOID likely kidney failure.
But for that weekend…I can hardly IMAGINE it for Dad himself going through it, it being stuff with HIS health, HIS body. But just as I would not have been able to speak for him THEN and certainly can’t NOW… what I AM able to do is speak for MYSELF.
And lemme tell ya, I was ROCKED.
He’d had a hospitalization in early 2011 (I remember him showing me a newspaper article about The Flash, Flashpoint, and I THINK The New 52) for what included the words “congestive heart failure.” (Whether it WAS actually CHF or medical folks testing for it or whatever, I also don’t recall at the moment). At THAT point, 2011, barely 30, I was hit with that idea of Dad’s mortality…maybe for the first time, certainly the first most SIGNIFICANT time.
But I quickly buried it, especially once he was outta the hospital and everything (at least to me) SEEMED fine again. I didn’t want to even LET myself really contemplate anything happening to him; his not being here; losing him.
It hadn’t hit me his using a cane since 2001 or so…I just took that as a clinical “fact-of-the-matter” sorta thing, in stride, his getting older, weight, etc. It just WAS. (“scary thought” as I think it: in 2001 he was ‘only’ 9 years older than I am now). And it wasn’t til he fell back in 2017 that …those 4 years kicked off.
So back to 2018 and the apparent lungs/kidney failure issue.
I was ROCKED.
There wasn’t much I could really say/do/be to Dad (not that I was aware of, not that I was conscious of, or recognized). It was sort of a case of we were all under this same roof, but dealing with (or not dealing with) it in our own ways, processing, waiting for confirmation of things, etc.
And amidst that, and my anxiety and such (I was also at the end of my Ohio Unemployment benefits, with no concrete leads ON employment), I finally had to get outta the house. I went to a movie, figuring a dark theater, a huge screen, some mindless movie and an active reason NOT to be on my phone, etc…
I saw The Meg.
Figured it’d just be some big, dumb giant-shark-action-flick; especially having Jason Statham in it.
And it was, but it was fun, the effects were best I’d seen for such a movie; it was by far the best “giant shark movie” I’d seen, a decade after I’d cycled through a bunch of giant-shark movies in the days of Netflix as DVD-by-mail before their streaming hit hard.
THOUGH in the movie, a character DOES lose HER Dad, and THAT part was rough for me the first time through. But after some sadness, the loss is more or less ignored/forgotten to focus on the giant-shark stuff and ends with the hero (figuratively) riding off into the sunset with a positive future ahead with “the girl” and her daughter.
I was hired a couple months later; and the following year, I did a day-trip to Columbus for the long Labor Day weekend 2019, and signed up for Audible for something to listen to on said trip. Not long after, I recalled having discovered that The Meg was apparently based on a book. That led to me going through all 6 novels in the latter part of 2019 into 2020.
And a thing I do, I “have to” have some sorta background noise at night, and I’ve found that what works really well for me is Audible audiobooks. Though it has to be something I’ve actually read and/or listened to, so I don’t stay awake hooked on actually taking in the story for the first time. I’ve got a BUNCH of audiobooks “in rotation” in that way; and a significant chunk of “regulars” are the first 5 Meg books and occasionally another book the author established to be in the same “Meg Universe.” The 6th/most recent book involves a significant subplot with a character in declining health and the portrayal and details hit wayyyyy too close to the heart for me, so I avoid that one as I don’t need that to compound what my mind already does in my sleep.
So…I first saw and enjoyed The Meg (the movie) in August 2018, 5 years ago.
For the past almost 4 years, I’ve been listening to the book series repeatedly.
I did (and do) my best to avoid internet trailers for stuff, don’t keep up on “upcoming movie news” as a thing (I get exposed to plenty, but don’t seek it out, and not for any specific films). So it came as a bit of a pleasant surprise a couple months back to realize that we were a few weeks away from The Meg 2: The Trench hitting theaters.
Half-a-decade since the first film and 4 after experiencing the books…this thing had a lot to “live up to.”
A LOT of “expectations” on my part. Not sure “hype” is the word, exactly, but “expectations” definitely fits.
I had decided I was going to pointedly see the film pretty much “ASAP” for me.
Also that it was going to be a solo thing, as my theatrical experience was for the first one.
Not exactly “in honor of” nor “celebration of” or anything, but just something for me, that seemed to fit, that I got it into my head to do, etc.
So last night, I did just that.
And I’m gonna put some spoiler space here, so that I can talk frankly.
Cuz you may not have seen the film.
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And if you haven’t seen it yourself, I don’t wanna spoil details for you.
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And if you keep reading now beyond this line, I’ll probably wind up spoiling some exact details of the film The Meg 2: The Trench.
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So from here on, I consider myself free to talk about the film and assume that if you’re reading, you either have as well or don’t care if details are spoiled.
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The opening scene of the movie is set–I believe it said–in the Cretaceous (they probably’d have legal issues using “Jurassic”). It’s a scene that’s been in the trailers, of a series of creatures eating each other (smaller by a bigger, then a bigger, up the food chain) culminating in a T-Rex being attacked by a Megalodon a la the Mosasaur chomping on the Indominus at the end of Jurassic World.
Then we get to the present day where someone’s testing some exo-suit that gives enhanced strength and such. And a scene with Jonas as some James Bondian action hero. And someone developing some “power suit” that vastly enhances a person’s strength. etc.
Move along with character (re)introductions and find that years have passed since the events of The Meg. I never felt it was clear exactly HOW MANY–possibly up to 10. (There’s reference to a 10-year-anniversary, but that COULD have been 10 years since events taking place years before The Meg).
And we find out that Suyin, the main female protagonist from the first film, has died sometime previous to this 2nd film. Her daughter Meiying remains under Jonas’ guardianship, and that character with the “power suit” is her uncle–a previously-unknown-of sibling to Suyin/son to Zhang. Based on a snippet of a trailer and a “running joke,” I was looking forward to the continued dynamics of Jonas, Suyin, and Meiying; so Suyin not being there was an immediate disappointment.
Jonas as corporate-espionage-busting action hero…doesn’t fit, after going through the books…though could be a premise for a film itself.
The power suit stuff could be a premise for a film.
Bunch of subplots crammed in…could all be premises of their own films.
I felt like we were “told” more than “shown” on plot points, or only given enough to “figure out” but not explore on characters/relationships.
But hey, big dumb shark movie, right? Why would I expect complex characterizations, relationship-building, and development in such a film? Well, that’d be the BOOKS.
And I suppose in expectations I had for being shown more on characters’ interactions/relationships is that really, they’re “in name only.”
“The Meg” is based on a book…at least in name. The main protagonist there is Jonas Taylor, so we have a Jonas Taylor. There’s no Terry Tanaka (Suyin seemed a stand-in for her, adding to my expectations). Suyin already having Meiying could have been a stand-in for Danni. Across both films I get very little if anything from Mac and Jonas’ friendship/history; Mac seems another in-name-only. DJ all the more in-name-only, to say nothing of the DJ character’s development/arc in the first book.
This new Trench film touches on some sorta undersea mining operation, which technically comes from the books, but we really get nothing about what the stuff IS, what it’s for, or how it played into characters’ histories. Nothing much was made of the main corporate “baddie”…including even a name. Not even a “Celeste-in-name-only.” No significant subplot with Suyin and a baddie, with a parallel adventure for Jonas, spotlighting male and female leads.
And then fairly suddenly after slow build we’re thrust into a final act with three Megs attacking “Fun Island”, and unlike the first film where the Megs (2 of ’em) were individually huge threats, Jonas easily dispatches 2 of ’em, and the 3rd recognizes Meiying’s uncle and responds to an underwater “clicker” and just…swims off.
Oh, and there’s a “kracken” because….well, ok, why not? No one questions it, they just kinda…fight its tentacles, but there’s no build on that, it just shows up, grabs people, gets tentacles chopped off, etc and then gets chomped on by a Meg.
And….yeah.
It was over the top, felt much more “mindless” and “dumb” than the first film, and as seems typical in sequels, tried to cram in wayyyyyy too much for its runtime. “Jack of all, master of none” or some such.
This Jonas Taylor, and the film, also comes off to me in part the way the later Die Hard films did. Where the first three seemed believable-if-a-stretch, the first newer one has the protagonist “kill a helicopter with a car” and other much more over-the-top action going beyond “just” an “everyman” character thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Or compare the first several Fast and Furious films with the last couple, and you should get where I’m going.
I’ve seen some reviews where people used the word “boring” to describe this film; last night I think I agreed with that assessment, but today I’m not completely sure. I think I’ve latched onto simply “disappointing.”
I got Dad and Mom to watch The Meg once with me; must’ve been late 2020. I don’t recall either of them being particularly enamored with it; I’m pretty sure Dad fell asleep during it and not sure he ever went back to “catch up,” but his lack of immediate “interest” in such also had kept me from “pushing.”
Having seen this new one, I do think it’s one I would NOT have sought to buy or rent to have him watch; from our “movie year” especially, it does not have the action or appeal that would’ve made for even a Redbox rental that he’d have enjoyed. (though I can only speculate, as he’s not here and I can’t speak FOR him, etc).
But this post is already over 2000 words, so I’m gonna just wrap up.
As usual, no great closing, so just an abrupt…end.
The Life of Walt 