Many, many times bigger than Bruce the “Jaws” shark, Meg is the mighty undersea Megalodon that helped make “The Meg” a hit 2018 monster movie.

“Meg 2: The Trench” picks up where that left off. We are back in the vast, expensive and elaborate Oceanic undersea lab founded by Jiuming, a Chinese billionaire (martial arts star Wu Jing).  He speaks Chinese at a glittering reception praising environmental studies as we read the English subtitles (“Meg 2” is a Chinese co-production).

Here again is Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor, the unofficial guardian of the endeavor who will soon find himself facing continual life or death crises but never shake his resolve to do one thing at a time.

As a series of spectacular underwater scenes unfold, you might see the submersibles and think sadly of the real-life submersible implosion that claimed the lives of five people trying to explore the Titanic.

But that passes quickly as “Meg 2” settles into being a campy, virtually non-stop series of increasingly absurd plot developments that range from sabotage to facing schools of the traditionally solitary Megalodons.  Why there are suddenly squads of sharks the size of whales is never explained.

The first half of “Meg 2” is mostly a series of underwater tests as the submersibles are incapacitated and the resourceful crew, led by Jonas, must walk unprotected to sanctuary.  Not all of them will make it.  Let the bloody body count begin!

Once inside the sea lab, more evidence emerges of sabotage and a mutiny for the explorers as the villains are revealed in a nasty plot. They plan to kill everyone and rake billions from lifeforms in the trench, so many, many miles below.

As greed compels these murderous mutineers to kill and kill again, it’s up to Jonas to manage one amazing rescue feat after another.

Statham, with his steely, razor-sharp cheekbones and baleful glare, never ever suggests any of this is pretty silly stuff.

But once “Meg 2” abandons its undersea dynamics to shift to the simply named Fun Island, a kind of Jurassic Park meets DisneyWorld beach resort, it’s a comedic spectacle.  Bikini babes, yapping lap dogs and obnoxious, leering men are all targets, not just of Megalodons chomping mightily as they attack the beaches but prehistoric looking, sabre-toothed lizards who seem to have emerged from a completely unexpected dinosaur epic.

These repulsive carnivores quickly slaughter and snack on those nasty armed squads as the only serious question becomes:  Will that yapping little lapdog become lunch or not?

“Meg 2,” while still credited to Steve Alten’s 1999 novel “The Trench,” has a new writing team with Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber and Dean Georgaris, and a new director, Ben Wheatley.

What they’ve delivered resembles a pipe dream of delirium imagined from sitting way too long in the hot sun.

Rated PG-13. At the AMC South Bay Center, Boston Common and suburban theaters. Grade: B