M3GAN 2.0, 2025.
Written and Directed by Gerard Johnstone.
Starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Ivanna Sakhno, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Aristotle Athari, Timm Sharp, Jemaine Clement, Mayen Mehta, and Mike Edward.
SYNOPSIS:
Two years after M3GAN’s rampage, her creator, Gemma, resorts to resurrecting her infamous creation in order to take down Amelia, the military-grade weapon who was built by a defense contractor who stole M3GAN’s underlying tech.
The first order of business here should be alerting readers that, unlike its predecessor, M3GAN 2.0 isn’t a comedy-slasher, but a sci-fi-action-comedy. It’s a genre shift that worked decades ago for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (barring the comedic aspect, although there are some jokey moments of levity in that sequel), a film that returning director Gerard Johnstone (this time writing the screenplay) desperately wants to be a modern version of. He is working from a story conceived from M3GAN co-writer, Akela Cooper (based on characters created by her and the other co-writer, horror veteran James Wan) that, at points, goes out of its way to betray the themes and messages of that first film to such a degree that this script often feels as if it was written by someone who didn’t even understand what they created. This film feels thematically lost without Akela Cooper and James Wan contributing to the actual script.
That’s one way of saying it’s disappointing that M3GAN 2.0 has such a wishy-washy approach to technology, specifically AI, while also going to great lengths to resurrect the titular murderous android as an antihero. Granted, this worked for Terminator 2: Judgment Day, albeit under different circumstances (Arnold Schwarzenegger technically wasn’t playing the same machine, for one) and in a different time. Now, even the slightest implication of a machine doing good can fall under the slippery slope of pro-AI propaganda. It raises the question of whether or not Gerard Johnstone understands that landmark blockbuster as well.
This is also not meant to overly criticize Gerard Johnstone for drawing inspiration from one of the most famous, successful, and acclaimed movies of all time. However, if one is going to do that, it would be wise to deliver on the android-on-android action rather than wrapping the material up in convoluted babbling and predictable backstabbing involving several characters ranging from government defense personnel to an array of tech company CEOs, family and friends returning from the original, and AMELIA, a new android designed using leftover remnants of M3GAN code to perform military missions. It’s a two-hour film that doesn’t feel longer than that because it’s boring (far from the contrary), but more so that there is so much crammed in this ADHD-riddled mess that it feels as if the laws of time are being defied and that closer to three hours have passed.
The gist is that US defense personnel, led by a dimwit break into the home of Gemma (Allison Williams), now much more conscious about her technological innovations and how much time she allows her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) with screens and such, to force her and her team to investigate why AMELIA went rogue in her first field assignment. AMELIA also appears to be killing anyone involved with the creation of M3GAN, so there is some inherent danger for Gemma, Cady, and their returning comedic relief sidekicks that, as the movie jokingly points out, never actually do much. As for Cady, she remains fascinated by technology but partakes in other activities, such as learning martial arts and worshipping Steven Seagal action flicks, which, believe it or not, turns out to be one of the funnier running gags.
Somehow (if I tried to explain the how’s and whys behind everything that happens here, well, I couldn’t consider how much information and exposition is excessively being shoved in one’s face at any given moment, although even if I could it would take several paragraphs and not be worth the time to even bother making sense of), M3GAN’s conscience is still alive and her code has survived. She then convinces Gemma that the only way to defeat AMELIA and keep Cady safe (which was the bulk of her original coding and what caused her to go haywire, as she has no moral obligations to follow that directive) is to put her back into a robotic body. Naturally, Gemma is hesitant to trust, but reluctantly and smartly puts M3gan into an amusingly ancient machine that has no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections.
In what will be surprising to know one (it’s probably already spoiled in the trailers and marketing, not to mention the title itself), more drastic measures for success need to be taken, meaning M3GAN gets both her original body back and physical upgrades to give her a better shot in a fight against AMELIA. The caveat is that her coding is tweaked for nonlethal attacks (which, come to think of it, is so simple to do here one wonders why it couldn’t have been done in the first film).
Rather than lean into the ‘send a robot to kill one approach, M3GAN 2.0 sometimes feels stuck trying to recreate popular beats from the first film, rather than doing something new; there is more dancing and singing. Hopefully, neither are applauded, as it’s akin to rewarding laziness. There is also a case to be made that bringing back characters from its predecessor only gets in the way of what this sequel is trying to do in telling another story with a new android in a new genre and world. M3GAN 2.0 opens in a field mission, quickly retreating into familiarity and playing the hits, which aren’t even three years old.
The practical effects, physical, and vocal performances of the androids are all once again impressive, and there is an undeniably nutty appeal to the material, ranging from AI convention brawls to computer-operated car chases and disastrous Zoom calls. However, too much of M3GAN 2.0 is indecisive and struggles to fully capitalize on its more tantalizing ideas, like androids kicking each other in the face or exoskeleton armor pieces that grant humans similar strength. By the time it does, fatigue has already settled in. Then the film ends on some insulting plea for coexistence between humanity and AI. The script and story certainly have no upgrades, only downgrades that betray the messaging of the first film.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
