Written by Sam Clark
Certificate: 15
Running time: 120 minutes
Director: Gerard Johnstone
When Blumhouse released ''M3GAN'' back in 2022, it seemed as though they were offering audiences their own version of ''Chucky'', a version that would also poke fun at consumerism and technology in the same way the classic killer doll flick did. As I sadly expected it would, the film ended up bringing nothing new to the table that we hadn't already seen before and just wound up being rather forgettable. It also proved to be nowhere near as nasty as it could have been and underwhelmingly pulled it's punches. But, cheap horror flicks always make money, regardless of quality, and Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are the leaders in mainstream horror. With a modest budget of $12 million dollars, the film went on to gross a very impressive $180 million dollars, so a sequel was always inevitable and proved that this kind of stuff is catnip to audiences.
Along comes ''M3GAN 2.0'', which proves that they should have just sticked to one film. Gerard Johnstone, who wrote and directed the first, returns here with Jason Blum and James Wan also reprising their roles as producers. ''M3GAN 2.0'' takes place two years later. ''Gemma'' (Allison Williams), who was the engineer behind the original ''M3GAN'' has since become a regulator for AI as a result of the robot going haywire and setting out on a killing spree (shock horror). She has now released a book on AI regulation and is a bestselling author. Also returning is her niece ''Cady'' (Violet McGraw) who has entered her rebellious teen years whom ''Gemma'' is struggling to care for. They find themselves thrust into danger once again when a shady orgainsation steals ''Gemma's AI technology to build ''Amelia'' (Ivanna Sakhno), a newer, more advances bot who embarks on a rogue rampage.
Image credit: IMDb / Universal Pictures
''Gemma'' must reluctantly give ''M3GAN'' an upgrade if they have any chance at stopping ''Amelia''; and even more robot chaos and carnage begins to ensue. I have believed for many years that Blumhouse and Atomic Monster horror films are horror films for audiences who don't usually watch or like horror; it may be harsh but they do just feel like a clean and censored alternative, whereas studios such as A24 and Shudder offer much more rewarding and thought-provoking shockers that stay with you long after the credits roll. What these films seem to think qualifies or justifies horror are jumps and that's it, but the greatest of this genre are never about that and, in fact, have very few. They explore so much more.
Granted, when ''The Conjuring'' first burst onto the scene, it changed the landscape of mainstream frighteners (and gave us some of the most memorable and iconic jumps to grace modern day horror), but it does feel like they haven't done anything like that since - I do still think that those jolts are the only things that made ''The Conjuring'' memorable, if they weren't there, it would be a far less effective film which reinforces my thoughts.
I don't wish to say these are ''fake'' horrors, but I do believe time can be much better spent elsewhere. But hey, films are subjective so knock yourself out if this is your thing. I confess that since I found the first one hard work, I naturally felt skeptical about a sequel. If that was not bad enough, I thought the trailers to ''M3GAN 2.0'' looked awful as it looked as though they were grasping at straws for something to do. My low expectations were unfortunately met. This the joint most bored I have been sat in a cinema this year and could not seem to sit still- alongside the unforgivably woeful exorcist horror ''The Ritual'' starring a sleepy and bored Al Pacino- and the closest I have ever come to falling asleep.
Image credit: IMDb / Universal Pictures
''M3GAN 2.O'' does change things up drastically compared to the first, but is still unable to capitalise on anything. This replaces the first's so called horror with far more action and comedic whips and plenty of science fiction waffle. That's fine, but what happens here is that is just turns into every robot AI film you have ever seen and yet again does nothing new, which is where the first film stumbled on a few occasions. It's a whose who of worn out science fiction tropes at play here, and you could spend all day unpacking and dissecting each and every one. I would perhaps not use the term ''blatant rip-off'' here per say, but the plot is so clearly re-hashed from ''Terminator 2'' that I think I'd be forgiven if I did. So not only was ''M3GAN'' not even remotely scary or creepy the first time around, the sequel tires to explore more sci-fi and is still not able to achieve that.
I will say the action is given significantly more attention and is the only saving grace. There is a lot of martial arts here with a heavy focus on Steven Seagal films and the fact that ''Cady'' is learning it. When ''M3GAN'' and ''Amelia'' finally go at it, as the trailer demonstrates, the fight sequence is very well done and fantastically well executed with some great camera work, but I just wish the rest of it was up to scratch. I expect this to take plenty of money as was demonstrated before and this stuff clearly has an audience, it's not just not for me.
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