After thrashing around for a bit trying to find its feet, this sequel eventually settles down and becomes something that would be quite worthy, if it didn't have to live up to the wonderful first film. At first, it seems bereft of ideas (as well as bereft of Kevin Bacon, no doubt too expensive now), merely re-locating Ward to Mexico to bounty-hunt giant worms. These seem to possess far less intelligence than their American cousins, and there's only so many times you can shower people in exploded worm intestines. Thankfully, things perk up with the return of Gross, every bit as gung-ho as last time, and now with all the resources of the Mexican army at his disposal. He finds worthy adversaries as the worms metamorphose into a new form, beautifully realised in a mix of puppetry and CGI (the latter by Phil Tippett, employing the same style he'd use in Starship Troopers). There's too much slack in the script, with a lot of dead air in the first half, and the new characters don't do much to grab attention. Still, the Jurassic Park approach i.e. many small creatures rather than one big one, provides a whole new set of challenges, and enough drive to make this worth the effort.
C+
