I loved M3gan (2023). It was silly, it was campy, it was a joy of a film. So I was really looking forward to the sequel, M3gan 2.0. But now I’m not sure how I feel about it. It certainly wasn’t as good as the first one; I can say that without hesitation or, as M3gan might call it, delayed screen-loading time.
A quick breakdown of the first one, for those new to the franchise: Cady’s (Violet McGraw) parents die in a car accident, so she is sent to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). Gemma is a robotic engineer who works for a toy company and is overwhelmed by sudden parenthood. She develops an AI doll, M3gan (physically performed by Amie Donald), that pairs with Cady and is programmed to protect her – no matter what the consequences. That causes M3gan to kill people, and she nearly takes out Gemma. Gemma and Cady end up killing M3gan and erasing her programming from the hard drive.
As we begin 2.0, Gemma has started her own company, with Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Epps) in tow. Gemma has become a star in the “responsible AI” community, giving speeches, writing books, and testifying before Congress. Meanwhile, Cady has become a little computer genius herself and seems primed to follow in her aunt’s footsteps.
The film opens with a demonstration of a new weapon: AMELIA, basically a human-sized M3gan that is built with M3gan’s programming. But AMELIA (played with Maschinenmensch beauty by Ivanna Sakhno) goes rogue and starts killing everyone involved in the M3gan project. AMELIA also breaks our hearts and shakes our confidence daily. (Wait, that’s Cecilia. Never mind.)
The FBI comes looking for Gemma, though the reasons are nebulous. Much like Palpatine “somehow” returning in The Rise of Skywalker, it turns out M3gan isn’t dead at all; she has been living in Gemma’s house, watching them, and preparing. Like a robotic groundhog with exquisite synthetic cheekbones, M3gan has built a lair beneath Gemma’s house, and convinces Gemma that M3gan is the only one who can bring down AMELIA. (Remember, kids: Beware those who make claims like “Only I can save you!”)
Those are the M3gan 2.0 basics. The film has numerous moving parts. Some of which I can’t share because they are spoilers; and some of which I can’t share because there was a lot of computer-coding chatter. During those scenes, my eyes glazed over like a M3gan doll trying to beat Level 65 in Candy Crush Saga while doomscrolling the worst of TikTok.
On the plus side, M3gan 2.0 was a lot bitchier than M3gan 1.0. That was fun; who doesn’t love a GigaBitch? But her new body – which is the size of an adult rather than a doll – undermines what originally made M3gan adorable. It makes her behavior more acceptable, more believable. She becomes less like a killer doll and more like a killer adult.
M3gan dances in this film, but it wasn’t like the delightful murderous scene from the original. Here she does The Robot, which – who knew? — is not as awesome when done by a robot. But then M3gan does sing Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” to Gemma, and that scene is brilliant. Just like with loose cellphone chargers, you win some, you lose some.
For plain ol’ horror thrills, there wasn’t enough robo-killing. Turns out M3gan’s deadliest new skill is being a tease. I don’t think M3gan kills a single soul in this film, but it is hard to tell for sure. The chaotic fight scenes made it difficult to follow who was fighting what. Gerard Johnstone, who did a great job directing the original M3gan, seemed to be trying too hard with M3gan 2.0. The camera was overly close and moved too fast in many of the action scenes. You’d think a movie about high-tech hijinks would have access to image stabilization.
Ultimately, M3gan 2.0 felt too long for what it was, coming in at two full hours – about 20 minutes longer than the original. Far too much of its runtime was spent explaining the drawn-out, overly complex story. On the plus side, M3gan was back and titanium-bitchier than ever.
