Back in 2022, a new killer doll didn’t just waltz into our lives, but rather Tiktok danced defiantly into the middle of a crowed sub-genre and made us take notice. Her name was M3GAN and she ensured that Chucky wasn’t the only corrupted child’s companion on the block as she plotted, schemed and murdered her way into our hearts – and more importantly, into Blumhouse’s pockets. However, for her second outing, M3GAN seems to be taking much more of a cue from the Terminator franchise by changing her operating system from an entertainingly silly, cautionary tale about AI to a full blown, ridiculous sci-fi actioner that sees the rowdy robot shift her allegiance to the side of the meatbags.
Even though the T-800, Godzilla and even the Velociraptors from Jurassic World have made the transition from baddie to goodie look fairly easy – can M3GAN manage to do the same since she’s been something of a baddie since the day she left the lab?
Two years have passed since roboticist Gemma and her niece Cady had to fend off an attack from a crazed AI named M3gan who was created essentially to make up for some shitty attempts at parenting; and in the interim, both have managed to reinvent themselves. Gemma now is an outspoken advocate for the restriction of AI while still working in the field and Cady, now having seemingly moved on from her parents death, apparently seems just as interested in entering that same world after a killer robot tried to be her best friend. However, while they both foolishly assumed that M3GAN had been vanquished, apparently you can’t just snuff out AI that easily and her essence has been whizzing through cyberspace, waiting and waiting for the right moment.
That right moment comes along with the reveal of another deadly robot with giant, Disney eyes, as a combat unit dubbed AMELIA seems to have broken her programming and gone off mission, killing anyone she can who knows the first thing about her creation. This shouldn’t be much of a problem, but considering that AMELIA’s design has come from stolen M3GAN tech, sooner or later the lithe assassin will come for both Gemma and Cady and finish the job that M3GAN started. However, despite her proclivity of pulling the ears off of bullies and jet washing nosey neighbours to death, M3GAN’s main command to protect Cady is still in effect; and so with the reluctant help of her hapless lab assistants Tess and Cole, Gemma has no choice to rebuild her murderous creation to defend them.
Of course, M3GAN isn’t about to make her comeback without a few upgrades and so the former slayer, turned protector (we think) arrives back on the scene taller, sassier and ready to pound some AI ass in order to fulfil her primary objective. But can M3GAN truly be trusted; after all she’s as devious as she is stylish and bad girls usually get what they want..
While watching the original M3GAN do her thing, I remember getting to the rather bonkers climax, which saw Violet McGraw’s Cody strap on a pair of tech gloves and use her aunt’s old robotic science project robotic to play rock ’em sock ’em robots with her former BFF and try and save the day and thinking “wouldn’t it be wild if this had been the tone for the entire movie”. Well, returning director Gerard Johnstone obviously thought the same and as a result, M3GAN 2.0 chooses to discard most of the horror trappings of its predecessor and go full T2 by presenting a sequel that’s bigger, bolder and brasser than the somewhat more subtle original. Of course, if I’m describing the first movie as subtle, then you must know that the follow up must swing for the fences and this is probably the first hurdle to cross as some fans will no doubt feel that M3GAN ditching it’s horror trappings like an out of date iPhone will feel like some sort of snobbish snub to its former genre. However, taking the James Cameron sequel route not only gives us a far larger canvas to play with, but it allows the movie to truly let its hair down and really have fun with its central concept.
In fact, after watching decades of Terminator sequels fall short of the mark after T2, it’s rather amusing that Johnstone has seemingly cracked the sequel code by making it as ridiculously camp as he possibly can and the end result may be scrappier that Scrappy-Doo on a scrap heap, but it’s also a source of good, dumb summer fun. Oh, all the typical attempts of Blumhouse to inject some social relevance is still there (AI concerns, screen time for kids, modern parenting issues), but all the surface level hand wringing is lost in bigger, badder action sequences and more snarky humour that proves the series is in on the joke just as much as you are. However, while the main focal point for the first film was on Allison Williams’ Gemma to try and awkwardly bond with her recently orphaned niece, this time the bulk of the plot is dedicated to taking M3GAN herself and giving her a halfway believable path from robo-stalker to anti-hero.
Of course, this means that M3GAN is now the undisputed lead with her arc taking over the entire film and as a result, the stuff concerning the relationship between the two fleshier leads gets a little lost in the rush. When you also consider that more time is taken up with enhanced roles for Brian Jordan Alverez and Jen Van Epps’ comedy coworkers and a role for the god-like ego of Jermaine Clement’s chair-bound tech billionaire, it’s actually a miracle that Gemma and Cady have any screen time at all, but they still have plenty to do thanks to the Mission: Impossible style spy sequences they find themselves in.
Of course, aside from a few glitches here and there (the climax is hugely enjoyable as it it incredibly messy) none of this proves to be much of a problem when the action is this slick and the humour this fun. Taking time off from Sith-ing around in the Ahsoka Star Wars show, Ivanna Sakhno gives good, icy, Robert Patrick vibes as the villainous AMELIA and even though some of the action beats skirt worryingly close to that of Leigh Whannell’s criminally underseen sci-fi thriller Upgrade, the fact that co-producer James Wan and Leigh got their Hollywood start in Saw means that it’s probably more homage than ripoff.
Of course, we’re all here for M3GAN and the movie plays the icon card to ridiculous extremes. She sings, she dances, she whups inordinate amounts of ass, she’s quick with a quip that can cut to the bone and the movie has huge fun playing with her in multiple forms be it trapping her in a little plastic helper, showcasing her in a half-built, Frankenstein like body or even plonking her consciousness inside a brain implant – but whether she’s wing suiting toward her next objective like a secret agent or taking control of a car like KITT from Knight Rider, vitally she never loses her edge and box office willing, another adventure would certainly be welcomed if it were to drop into my inbox.
M3GAN fans may be somewhat split over the wild change of tone, but it proves to be organic, badass and, most importantly of all, fun. Sure, some of the plot doesn’t tend to compute – but when it’s this fun, and the action is this satisfying, M3GAN continues to be the moment.
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