M3GAN 2.0 Review

“People are stupid” – M3gan

From here on, I’m reverting to the usual spelling of “Megan” unless I’m referring to the movie title because it’s just going to drive my spellcheck into therapy and counselling if I don’t.

Did we doubt that Megan would be back, despite her destruction at the end of the last movie? Of course we didn’t. There was a kinda sorta hint that her programming was still alive at the end of the first movie, if you recall. Besides, M3GAN was a pretty good financial success for Universal/Blumhouse and as we all know, in Hollywood as everywhere else, money talks.

What I was hoping NOT to see though, was Megan become a modern-day Chucky, where the doll somehow survives everything thrown at it, becoming more deformed and uglier in each movie. After all, there’s only so much you can do with an evil doll, isn’t there? So, it was 60% enthusiasm and 40% doubt that I stepped into the screening room. (Even if the film turned out to be really bad, the day wasn’t going to be a write-off because I had already enjoyed the screening of Pixar’s Elio. The strategy being that we’d double bill because Pixar seem unable to make a bad movie. (Challenge me on this – I dare you.)

The trailer didn’t really give much away, as to the direction the film would take, tonally. Well, maybe there were hints – but the film that ended up on the screen isn’t what I was expecting to see, and that’s great! I’d categorise M3gan as a horror/sci-fi movie, with the emphasis more on the horror than the sci-fi. I mean, what’s intended as a toy becomes over protective of its child charge with homicidal consequences is the basis of it. The kid is safe, but the adult, not so much.

However, for the sequel, a lot has changed around. Tonally this is a sci-fi/horror with the emphasis firmly more on sci-fi with a few consequential horror elements. So, the progression and evolution of the Megan character is ingeniously handled, as are the changes in Amie Donald, the young actress who plays Megan who was 12 when filming the first and is now 15. This is covered by Megan demanding that her new body be upgraded, taller and stronger. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Two years have passed since the events of M3GAN. In that time, the Pentagon have developed an infiltration robot with programming copied from Megan. During a routine mission in Iran, the robot, called AMELIA (Ivanna Sakho) reveals she has become self-aware and kills everyone she sees before going rogue. Now, she seems to be after everyone who was involved with her creation. It’s only a matter of time before she catches up with the original creator, Gemma (Allison Williams) and her niece Cady (Violet McGraw). Gemma, since the last movie, has become a successful author and advocate of A.I. regulation.

So, with her tech having been stolen by the U.S. Government and turned into a military grade weapon, the U.S. Government have no option but to turn to Gemma in the hopes she can build a bigger, better Megan who can defeat AMELIA.

Megan has survived by storing a backup of her mind/programming/essence, call it what you will, within the programming of Gemma’s smart home and has hidden herself there (as hinted in the final shot of M3GAN) and reveals herself. But can the homicidal maniac now be trusted? Especially against a self-aware, bigger, better version of herself?

As the film turns out, it’s far more Terminator 2 than Child’s Play 2 which is an ingenious twist that I don’t think any of us saw coming, or at least I didn’t. Consequently, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

It’s a thrill ride that I didn’t really see coming, so I spent a pleasant afternoon, amazed and enthralled. Coupled with Elio, it was a good day at the cinema, with both movies scoring well on my rating (you’ll see that below – same score for Elio).

As Megan herself says; “hold on to your vaginas” here’s my rating.

Rob Rating = 8