Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic The movie-mad phenomenon of “Barbenheimer” has been a thrilling reminder that audiences can still embrace the movie-theater experience, turning up in awesome droves when they’re offered something new and adventurous.
It’s also been powerful evidence that films that aren’t formulaic sequels can succeed in a way that too many recent cookie-cutter franchise films have not.
But will all that go down as a lesson for the future? Or a giant anomaly? We probably shouldn‘t kid ourselves. “The Meg 2: The Trench” is a trivial (if not unwatchable) piece of semi-preposterous big-budget junk.
But arriving just two weeks after “Barbenheimer,” it stands as a pesky signifier of what mainstream movies have been for the last 40 years, and what they’ll likely continue to be.
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