It’s crazy to think that two years ago people were calling for M3GAN to have a horror crossover with Chucky, something that would’ve put her en route to becoming a classic horror doll. Now, M3GAN 2.0 has arrived to kill any chance of the titular doll making another appearance.
This movie is a classic case of a big studio misunderstanding what made a film popular, trying to capitalise on viral social media trends, and subsequently losing millions of dollars… and fans. At its core, M3GAN was a small-scale horror comedy about an AI robot that goes out of control and develops a taste for murder. Despite knowing that, the writers and producers have decided to genre swap this sequel, turning it into a spy thriller with a global threat, nonsensical espionage narrative and not a single second of horror in sight. Watching this movie and gradually realising they’ve abandoned any and all sense of horror is utterly baffling. Rather than embracing being a good, or even decent, cheesy horror slasher, it tried to be something grander and is now an awful action thriller instead. The main issue is that the direction they’ve gone in doesn’t appeal to the audience that found the first one enjoyable… and those that didn’t enjoy the first won’t be leaping into this one… so really it’s a lose-lose.
Let’s talk about the narrative though – it follows a new military-grade AI robot called AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno) who has gone against her orders and embarked on a mission of her own. Our only hope of stopping her? Resurrecting and trusting M3GAN. What follows is a cliche, uninventive and hastily-thrown together espionage thriller about two killer robots going toe-to-toe, while the humans support the battle with cringeworthy comedy no real development arcs. It’s as if someone reached into the spy playbook, watched Mission: Impossible and Johnny English, merged the two and came up with this abomination. It’s so tonally and comedically flat from the get-go that it makes it hard to get invested in the story and its characters. M3GAN wasn’t beloved for its characters, heartfelt story or action-heavy sequences – it was the contrast of the horror and silly comedy that formed the tone. However now without the horror element, it’s just an action film with nonsensical comedy that hardly ever lands.
The story doesn’t offer much of substance to latch onto, and just when you think they’re pulling off an impressive twist that would’ve actually made the journey worth it, they opt for the painfully overused angle instead. No character in here has much of an arc to follow. There’s some forced auntie/niece conflict we’re meant to care about, and M3GAN goes through her own growth, but the film is too focused on setting up and explaining the large-scale world-ending threat that all these other story beats are overshadowed. Additionally, the pacing is strangely not as urgent as you’d expect a spy thriller to be. It moves with a little bit of haste, but there’s just no urgency or suspense to keep you locked in on the action. In other words, it leaves behind its horror roots only to fail at being a spy thriller. It’s like when a WWE wrestler joins the UFC only to realise they should’ve stuck to their lane.
The dark comedy angle of the first film produced some hilarious beats, though in this film it feels like the studio spent too much time trying to recreate viral moments than crafting a quality story. Two memorable scenes from M3GAN are the viral dance and singing moment – both were weaved into the narrative well and got a good laugh. This film has one of each of those moments, but they’re both painfully forced and make for two of the most embarrassingly bad scenes.
When it comes to the performances, there’s really not much to write home about. Allison Williams (Gemma) and Violet McGraw (Cady) return at the centre of the story, though despite their screentime I didn’t feel the impact of their performances. Granted the narrative doesn’t leave room for character growth, so I don’t think it’s due to a lack of effort. Amie Donald and Jenna Davis return once again for the body and voice of M3GAN, and that dual performance is still very strong. Ironically, M3GAN has more charm and personality than the human characters, so that’s a credit to their performances. There’s also the surprising presence of Jemaine Clement as a rival tech guru. Of all the comedy-bringers his jokes hit more than others, though I chalk it down to him being a generally funny guy than the writing actually being good.
Lets end on what I think is the biggest highlight of the film – the action. The various hand-to-hand fight sequences spread throughout the movie are genuinely entertaining. Now they’re not enough to save the film or warrant this switch to a spy thriller, but they are well choreographed and engaging. The action is held back by the age rating not allowing much in the way of on-screen violence, but they do well with what they’re allowed to show.
In the end, M3GAN 2.0 is a disastrous misstep that completely goes against everything the first film exceled at in the horror genre. Moving it from a niche horror comedy to a cookie-cutter espionage thriller is one of the greatest cinematic fumbles of the year, and the box office confirms this. There’s just no heart or substance to the story – the writers have orchestrated it hoping bigger equals better… which it doesn’t. Without the scares it’s a bit of a bore, with not much in the way of quality laughs or thrills. To be fair I was laughing… only I was laughing at it, not with it. I never thought I’d be saying this so soon, but M3GAN is dead and I think it’s for the better.
3.5/10
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