Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 13 (sustained violence, scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 12 | Not suitable due to sustained violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 12–13 | Parental guidance recommended due to sustained violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 14 and over | Ok for this age group. |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Meg 2: The Trench |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Sustained threat and action violence |
Length: | 116 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Five years after the events of the first film, Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is fighting eco-terrorism and has made an enemy of a mercenary sea captain, Montes (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), having thwarted his venture. Jonas is also bringing up his 14-year-old step-daughter Meiying (Sophia Cai) after the death of his partner Suyin. Suyin’s brother Jiuming (Wu Jing) is also an important adult in Meiying’s life. Jiuming is the director of Mana One, a marine biology centre which is studying a deep trench, known as the Mariana Trench. It is there they found Haiqi, a Megalodon, and have been raising her from a baby. Jiuming is training her to respond to signals.
Haiqi, however, manages to escape captivity and so Jonas and Jiuming go down to the trench in submersibles. Meiying also joins them by hiding in the ship. Meanwhile, Montes has been hired by Jiuming’s partner, Hillary Driscoli (Sienna Guillory), to help her take over Mana One and to destroy evidence of their illegal deep-sea mining. Montes blows up the mine, killing his crew and causing a rupture in the trench which stops the submersibles in their tracks. Jonas, Jiuming and the others have to walk in exosuits to the station, amidst an area of Megalodons.
The Megalodons are on the attack and kill several of the crew. Jonas, Jiuming, Meiying and Rigas (Melissanthi Mahut) survive the trip but find that the thermocline, the barrier between the trench and the upper sea, has also been ruptured, leading to the escape of not only the Megalodons but also large amphibious lizards and a giant squid. Jonas and his team head to Fun Island to warn the happy holidaymakers of the dangers to come but find the Megalodons are already there. Jonas has to fight not only the dangerous creatures but also Montes and his men who are intent on killing him.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Science Fiction; Action Adventure; Prehistoric creatures; Characters in constant peril.
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
There is sustained action-violence throughout this movie, including many fights amongst people with guns, machine guns, explosions, knives, harpoons, punching and kicking, etc. Several characters are killed and/or eaten by Megalodons. Blood is often seen. Other violence includes:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Meg 2: The Trench is an action-adventure, science fiction movie. The film contains sustained violence and threat from very large, scary creatures and is therefore not suitable for children under 12. Parental guidance is also recommended for children aged 12 – 13, due to the high level of violence.
The main messages from this movie are to protect the environment; and to tackle problems one at a time.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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