Director/writer Gerard Johnstone navigates the resurrection of the anti-hero robot by bringing her to life in the world of action/adventure satire to establish her as an AI superhero along the types of T2’s T-800
If you had told me back in January 2023 that the breakout horror character of that year would be a one-liner dropping killer android doll called M3GAN that would launch Universal a new franchise and world to mine, I don’t think I would’ve believed you. Yet, 2023’s M3GAN succeeded in establishing yet another profitable franchise for Blumhouse and continued the streak of killer doll creations from the mind of James Wan, the brains behind killer dolls in SAW, Annabelle from The Conjuring, Dead Silence and so much many more under his Atomic Monster umbrella.Even then, it was teased that we might eventually see M3GAN, voiced by Jenna Davis and played in physicality by New Zealand dancer Amie Donald, face off against Universal’s other killer doll franchise in Chucky.
Yet, M3GAN 2.0, which hits theaters this Friday, June 27th, instead borrowed a page out of the motif of another killer robot franchise in Terminator and made the leap from sci-fi horror to action.
That’s right, M3GAN 2.0 is not in the slightest terms a horror movie. Sure, it explores the potential danger of AI and its ever-encroaching hold on the real world as well as technology, but in terms of plot in structure, this M3GAN has more in common with TERMINATOR 2 and the original MISSION IMPOSSIBLE from 1994 than it does with CHILD’S PLAY or M3GAN (2023). And that’s a good thing. There’s only so many places you can go with a non-supernatural killer doll and M3GAN has the benefit of engaging with the more character driven niche of horror and sci-fi audiences. Those who relate to the latter day wise-cracking versions of Chucky or Freddy and can hang with them no matter what the scenario since the character of M3GAN with her snark and purpose-driven mission to protect Cady (Violet McGraw) largely works in any context.
In M3GAN 2.0, we pick up a couple of years after the events of the original. The plans for M3GAN’s build which were stolen by Funki intern Kurt in the original have somehow ended up with the government, which reverse engineered them to build an infiltration unit called AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), basically just M3GAN in a realistically designed humanoid skin suit. The film starts us off with AMELIA deployed to the bored of Turkey and Iran to rescue an asset and we see her pull off many of M3GAN’s moves from the first film and disguise herself multiple times to seemingly rescue the asset, only to shockingly go rogue. Gemma (Allison Williams), M3GAN’s creator, has reinvented herself as an voice for AI regulations alongside her Nathan Fielder-esque partner Christian (Aristotle Athari). Meanwhile, Cady has developed a strong interest in robotics, as we see her writing code to find if morality is a field that can be learned beyond 1s and 0s in true sentience, which Christian writes off as paperclip thinking, that a machine designed to make paperclips would eventually destroy the world to do so since all it sees is its mission, which is all M3GAN was in his mind. This is challenged when the government stages a raid on Gemma’s hone, only for M3GAN to reveal herself as having watched out for them incognito the last two years. She alerts Gemma that she is now on Amelia;’s hitlist and needs a body to protect Cady, Gemma and her crew, but Gemma distrusts her and this is the main thrust of the film. Can M3GAN really change and who can Gemma and Cady trust?
As you can see there, the plot and structure of the film are not what you would expect from a horror movie. Conceptually, its very similar to T3 Rise of The Machines, where AMELIA, a platinum blonde robot, wants to find an earlier sentient program to trigger an end-of-the-world AI apocalypse, and Gemma and Christian wonder if M3GAN’s loyalties lie with its AI brethren or with Cady, and is that connection real or programmed. In exploring this idea, the film dances with homage and satire to films like Short Circuit, Terminator, Terminator 2, Metropolis, Mars Attacks, RoboCop, Upgrade and Mission Impossible and its recent foray into an AI enemy with the Entity. Shockingly, it works. The script by Johnstone really does a lot with character development with Cady and M3GAN, without making Cady seem like a helpless boy hostage like John Connor was in T2. Davis has to carry a lot here in terms of voice acting; she has to be the quippy, one-liner snark machine that is M3GAN while selling that that tone is a consequence of her programming and doesn’t belie the growth she experiences. The film succeeds in making M3GAN a likeable monster, not unlike Arnold’s T-800 in T2 where you don’t lose that core of the Terminator but its clearly evolved past what it once was.
And that’s where fans may have a hard time with M3GAN 2.0. It’s clear by the end this movie is now an action franchise with possible spinoffs that may go in different directions, but overall M3GAN is now an anti-hero/hero who defends her family. This isn’t the character that was going to fight Chucky and we will likely never get that interaction. I think that’s a loss, but it gives Blumhouse a marketable hero in its stable that could seemingly crossover into the types of horror films we’ve seen from Leigh Whannell in the new Monsterverse like The Invisible Man. But leaving the world of horror behind may be a step too far for fans of the first film to take.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the character of M3GAN and enjoy films like Upgrade, RoboCop, and the Terminator films, you’ll enjoy M3GAN 2.0. The character is just as fun as before and robot on robot violence was never as fun.
—
M3GAN 2.0
★★★★ of ★★★★★ stars
A fun reinvention that stays true to the character with plenty of rewatchability
—
OUT OF THEATER REACTION
—
VIDEO REVIEW