7 Ways The Meg Was Much Better Than You Expected

7. Gore

Realistic and satisfying without being gratuitous, the gore gives the movie high stakes without reducing itself to a mindless shark slasher. And but for some studio tinkering, we might have gotten even more.

Jason Statham recently spoke about the blood and guts in The Meg, claiming the original cut was even bloodier. Warner Bros. knew they had the ingredients for a surprise summer smash, and wanted to avoid that dreaded R-rating scaring audiences off. While we’ll never know if that helped, it certainly didn’t seem to hurt. The Meg grossed over $500 million from a $130 million budget. More notable films like Pacific Rim: Uprising recouped much less from similar budgets.

Though it may have been down to executive finagling, the gore features just the right amount. There’s some absolutely brutal moments where we just get screams and splashes, but those make for some of the most terrifying parts of the whole movie. At other times, we see limbs ripped off, blood dripping from Megalodon teeth, and bombs, spears and missiles employed against the ferocious beast.