It’s impossible to believe that I saw “M3GAN” in January of 2023 – 2.5 years ago. I was intrigued by the concept of a horror movie centered around a creepy modern android but ultimately let down by the lack of scares. The sequel, aptly titled “M3GAN 2.0” advises the viewer from the jump that there are no horror elements at all in the forthcoming film.
I celebrated my Personal New Year by treating myself to a matinee showing. Written and directed by Gerard Johnstone, “M3GAN 2.0” isn’t offensive. It’s just confused. The concept is prescient. Some moments were funny. Scares were exchanged for an abundance of action and fight sequences.
Same Characters
Allison Williams and Violet McGraw reprise their roles as Gemma and Cady respectively. Gemma is a roboticist who has seemingly learned her lesson in the bloody aftermath of the original film. In a prophetic way, Gemma works as an advocate for ethics and laws to govern the emerging presence of AI. Current leaders should take note. Allison Williams is a great talent, truly beautiful, and becoming an icon in the realm of horror cinema.
Cady is a spunky tween who is growing invested in the field of computer science. From “The Haunting of Hill House” to now, McGraw has literally grown up on screen and continues to be a strong performer despite her young age.
M3GAN is again portrayed by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis. Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps lend support as Gemma’s robotics team. Timm Sharp plays a humorous FBI Agent. Aristotle Athari plays the antagonist, subtly named Christian (so clever). Ivanna Sakhno plays another creepy android called AMELIA.
Lots of Fights
Where “M3GAN” at least tried to be a horror movie, “2.0” consists of choregraphed fights, gun battles, and lots of snark. The titular android is now the hero of the story, and like Chucky, has begun morphing into a comedian.
Some things don’t make sense. AMELIA is shown to have superhuman strength. One part depicts her literally punching someone’s head off. Yet she still uses a gun at one point. And the way M3GAN is reintroduced is ham-fisted at best. But we know this isn’t “Psycho” so, whatever.
At a run time of 2 hours, Gerard Johnstone should have run the final script through ChatGPT and trimmed a few sections. It’s plot is sloppy. The motivations of characters don’t follow logic. Too much is going on. I suppose Johnstone is saving the best for the inevitable M3GAN 3.
“M3GAN 2.0” is fine. I won’t say it’s fun, but I didn’t mind sitting through it. It’s not something I would recommend but it isn’t awful either. It just sort of happened. The true terror is knowing that this is exactly what is going to happen in real life. Unfortunately, I don’t think anything will be enough to save us.
