M3GAN 2.0 Review

M3GAN was a hit in 2023, making $181 million from a $12 million and a sequel was quickly greenlit. M3GAN 2.0 sees the series move from self-aware horror-comedy to a sci-fi action comedy.

Two years after the events of the first film, Gemma Forrester (Allison Williams) has become an advocate for regulating AI and limiting the role of technology regarding parenting. This has led to her niece/ward, Cady (Violet McGraw), to enter into her rebellious teen years, even though she’s 12, and shows promise as a computer programmer.

Gemma and Cady’s world gets shaken once again when the FBI shows up at their house and warns them about a new robot, AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), that has been developed by the Department of Defence and has gone rogue. However, Gemma finds out that M3GAN has been controlling her Elise AI system, and Gemma is forced to make an uneasy alliance with the killer robot.

The first M3GAN movie was a fun sci-fi horror movie that had a tongue-in-cheek approach, while also addressing themes about grief and over-reliance on technology. It was backed up by a great marketing campaign thanks to the M3GAN dance going viral. It had a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The sequel did not live up to the expectations set by the first film.

M3GAN 2.0 did have a promising trailer that emphasised the comedy, showing the series pivot to action and used Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again.” I enjoyed M3GAN’s request to be taller as a blatant way to accommodate Amie Donald growing up between films. The move to action made M3GAN 2.0 seem like it was going to be the Terminator 2: Judgment Day of the M3GAN series. The first Terminator film was a sci-fi slasher film, whilst Terminator 2 was an expensive actioner, and M3GAN and M3GAN 2.0 did seem like they would fit that model. Also like the Terminator films, there was a character change since M3GAN was the bad guy, whilst in the sequel, she switched sides to stop a more powerful robot.

M3GAN 2.0 should have been a simple affair. It ended up being overly complicated. Instead of it being a cat-and-mouse chase to stop AMELIA, it became a sci-fi, lower-budget version of Mission: Impossible. It turned into a film with elaborate missions that required infiltrating buildings and teamwork. One story development felt like it was lifted from Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, although this was more likely to be a coincidence, considering The Final Reckoning’s release date.

As an action film, it was disappointing since what was offered was unremarkable, and it didn’t have the budget to have more elaborate sequences or have a high volume of action. Although films like The Raid and Monkey Man cost less than M3GAN 2.0, they were fantastic, action-packed movies.

Gerard Johnstone, the writer/director of the film, seemed like he just chucked every idea he had onto the screen. M3GAN was in the Cloud and could access any computer, like AIA in AfrAId, another Blumhouse film, and the Entity in the final two Mission: Impossible movies. This made M3GAN an omnipotent presence that could access any system, but because she was in the Cloud her mind was fracturing and needed a body. AMELIA told M3GAN that she was turning against her own kind, which doesn’t make sense as the film progresses. There was a greater threat involving another AI system that had developed after decades of isolation.

There were some moments that did make me chuckle. M3GAN made biting comments and insults against Gemma, which was when the film was at its funniest. In the film, Cady had taken up aikido, and Steven Seagal became her icon, which was unintentionally funny because of Seagal’s negative reputation.

M3GAN 2.0 was a messy, unfocused film that was nowhere near as coherent or interesting as the first film. Nor was it entertaining enough to make up for its shortfalls.