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The following article contains major spoilers for the novels Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror and The Trench, as well as the feature films The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench.
One year before Steven Spielberg made us all afraid to go into the water, Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel Jaws took the literary world by storm. Nearly fifty years after publication it remains one of the most popular examples of shark fiction with few titles entering the waters of its elite circle. One such novel is Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten.
Published in 1997, this sci-fi horror brings to life Otodus megalodon, a prehistoric relative of the great white shark estimated to stretch up to 65 feet in length. The novel pits retired rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham in the movies) against this mammoth beast after it escapes from a warmer pocket of water near the Mariana Trench. Alten followed his debut novel with The Trench continuing Taylor’s adventures with the Tanaka Oceanographic Institute and a captive baby Meg named Angel.
Both films have now been adapted into big budget blockbusters: The Meg, directed by Jon Turteltaub and its sequel Meg 2: The Trench, directed by Ben Wheatley. Both films differ significantly from their source material, but writers Dean Georgaris and Jon and Erich Hoeber merge the plots of Alten’s first two novels in order to create a creature-filled sequel with plenty of amplified action to make up for an admittedly convoluted plot.
Let’s take a closer look at Meg 2: The Trench, from the novel(s) to the screen.
65 Million Years Ago
Wheatley’s film begins on a prehistoric beach as a herd of lizards runs from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Equally comfortable on land or sea, these mysterious creatures rush into the water, then swiftly turn and head back to shore. As the T-Rex grabs its next kill, a massive shark jumps out of the water and smashes the head of the T-Rex in its much larger jaws. It’s an explosive introduction to the titular Megalodon that shows in one fell swoop the apex predator’s age, size, and power. This intro doesn’t just bring us back in time, but to the beginning of Alten’s novel series itself.
Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror begins with an identical scene differing only in one small detail. Alten introduces his title fish as it kills a T-Rex hunting for a dinosaur called Shantungosaurus, a large herbivore known for its duck-like bill. The predators we see in Wheatley’s intro are known as Kronosaurus, a species of dinosaur not introduced until Alten’s second novel. These marine carnivores have evolved over millennia as the major food source sustaining the Megs beneath the ocean’s deepest thermocline. Reaching the surface they not only terrorize vacationers at the nearby Fun Island, but are responsible for killing major antagonists in both versions of the story.
Tainted Love
Alten’s first two novels and their film adaptations feature plenty of toothy monsters, but they also contain their fair share of evil humans. The Trench finds the Tanaka Institute in dire straits after a series of lawsuits related to the Meg’s attacks. Stepping in to back the facility is Benedict Singer, a wealthy financier with devious plans. He dispatches Celeste, his beautiful young protégé, to seduce Jonas and learn the coordinates of a valuable area in the Mariana Trench called the Devil’s Purgatory. Singer has bought the company as a cover to mine resources from the ocean floor in partnership with several high profile terrorist organizations. However, Celeste is still holding a grudge for the long-ago murder of her mother and uses the Kronosaurs to kill her former mentor, father(!), and lover.
Wheatley simplifies this plot dramatically, but keeps the bones of the story intact. As the film opens, a wealthy backer named Hillary Driscoll (Sienna Guillory) has become the face of the Mana One Research Facility. Like Singer, she’s invested in the company to secretly spearhead an illegal underwater drilling operation using the facility’s aquatic infrastructure. Though Driscoll herself does not have a romantic partner in the film, she’s aided by another evil couple. Montes (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) leads her underwater drilling operation while his paramor Jess (Skyler Samuels) greases the wheels from above. Managing the control room, Jess sabotages technology, steals valuable information, and coordinates an armed takeover once Driscoll drops her cover.
Unfortunately her hubris gets the better of her and she dies in the indifferent jaws of a Meg. Driscoll herself suffers a death similar to her literary counterpart. Having followed Jonas and his crew to Fun Island, she’s attacked by Kronosaurs and dragged out of the cockpit of a waiting helicopter.
Brothers and Sisters
Starring alongside Statham in this aquatic horror film is the charismatic Jing Wu. One of China’s most popular action stars, Wu plays the young and impulsive Jiuming Zhang, prodigal son of the late Dr. Minway Zhang (Winston Chao) who dies in Turteltaub’s first film. An early scene reveals that Jiuming’s sister Suyin (Bingbing Li) has also passed away in between the events of both stories and Jiuming now carries on aquatic research in his family’s name. This character does not exist in Alten’s second novel, but provides an interesting nod to the first book.
Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror introduces us to Masao Tanaka and his daughter Terry who lives in the shadow of her dynamic brother DJ; counterparts to Dr. Zhang, Suyin, and Jiuming respectively. Longing for her father’s respect, Terry volunteers to accompany Jonas on a dangerous rescue mission to the ocean floor. Having more faith in his son’s abilities, her father selects DJ for the job. Unfortunately, DJ’s submersible is crushed by the emerging Meg, a tragic death only hinted at in Turteltaub’s film. Reversing this family dynamic, Meg 2: The Trench centers a brother grieving the loss of his father and sister rather than Alten’s version of a family mourning the tragic death of their adventurous son.
A Family Man
As the anchor of the series, Jonas Taylor serves as a steadfast hero in both the pages of Alten’s novels and their film adaptations. Though his characterization remains largely the same in every iteration of the story, his relationships with others vary wildly. The first film and novel chronicle Jonas’s burgeoning love affair with Terry/Suyin. Initially enemies, the two divers quickly fall in love as they work together to take the Meg down. Turteltaub adapts this plotline faithfully with the addition of Suyin’s eight-year-old daughter Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai). Jonas bonds with the adorable girl who not-so-subtly tries to push her mother into his arms. Both versions of the story imply that the new lovebirds will begin a life together as a family of three. Unfortunately, this happy ending will be short-lived.
Alten’s The Trench begins with Jonas’s marriage to Terry on the rocks. Previously pregnant with their first child, Terry lost the baby due to the stress of multiple lawsuits blaming Jonas for the Meg’s carnage. Separated for most of the novel, they eventually rekindle their love as Jonas rescues Terry from Benedict Singer’s submarine inside the Mariana Trench. The novel ends with the happy couple on their way back to the Tanaka Institute. Wheatley’s film reverses this relationship as well, giving Jonas a child, but taking away his wife. Though Suyin has passed on, we’re led to believe the couple began a relationship after killing the Meg. Jonas now cares for Meiying as if she were his own daughter and spends most of the film trying to save her from the Megs and Kronosaurs. Now a teenager, the headstrong girl appears to take after her mother and refuses to stay behind when she may have the ability to save the lives of others.
Angel and Haiqi
An interesting plot detail removed from the adaptation of Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror is the development of the Tanaka Institute’s Whale Sanctuary. Stemming from a childhood love of the oceanic mammals, biologist Masao Tanaka creates a massive tank with plans to study various whale species in a controlled environment. Emerging from the ocean depths, the discovery of the Meg dramatically changes these plans. With a mammoth facility ready and waiting, Jonas and Tanaka attempt to capture the fish alive but wind up killing the whale-sized predator when it makes its way to shore. But not before she can give birth to three Meg pups. The novel ends with Tanaka’s crew capturing a baby Meg and holding it in the tank. They call the white fish Angel, an innocent sounding name paying homage to the biblical Angel of Death.
Building on this plotline from the first novel, Meg 2: The Trench begins on a similar note. Jiuming now leads the research facility which currently houses a baby Meg named Haiqi. Wheatley excises the details of her capture, but she shows similar aggressive tendencies and, like Angel, eventually escapes her aquatic enclosure. Though the results of this liberation are the same, Alten gives us more information. Growing increasingly agitated, the captive Meg shatters tank walls and kills a trio of teenage vandals who make the fatal mistake of riling her up. Angel smashes through the gates and swims into the open ocean where she destroys boats, nets, and helicopters to avoid being confined again. Wheatley skips most of this plot line and saves his action set pieces for the thrilling Fun Island massacre that concludes the film.
Though the details of her escape are more subdued, Haiqi gets her own breathless sequence earlier in the film. Believing he has trained this massive shark, Jiuming dives into the water with the Meg and attempts to guide her motions using a sonar clicker. He narrowly survives the encounter, but later finds himself face to face with the deadly fish in open water. After saving the inhabitants of Fun Island, Jiuming spies Haiqi approaching and uses his clicker to try to divert the gigantic predator. At the last moment, Haiqi does indeed turn away though Jonas suspects she’s actually distracted by a herd of passing whales. Having emerged from Singer’s submarine, Alten’s version of Jonas and Terry also find themselves swimming with the Meg. A recurring nightmare brought to life, Jonas steals himself for certain death then watches in wonder as Angel attacks a lurking Kronosaur and allows the couple to swim to safety. Wheatley’s film ends with speculation that Haiqi has become pregnant, but Alten’s novel removes any doubt. A final scene describes Angel giving birth to two male shark pups, setting up both versions of the story for an exciting next chapter.