Produced by genre titans James Wan and Jason Blum, and helmed by returning writer-director Gerald Johnstone, M3GAN 2.0 does something bold in the horror field: it shifts tones from the scary undercurrents of the original film and to a full-bore action movie. Taking visual and narrative cues from influences ranging from Metropolis to Terminator 2, the film takes place two years after the original, where we find artificial intelligence M3GAN’s creator, Gemma (Allison Williams), having become a successful author and advocate for government oversight of AI, while her now-14-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), is becoming proficient in the field of robotics and electronics, thus making her aunt nervous with her rebellious spirit.
We find out that the government somehow got hold of the M3GAN design and have created an even deadlier version of her called AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno, Pacific Rim: Uprising) that they can use as the ultimate infiltrating spy and assassin. But on AMELIA’s first mission, she rejects her programming, becomes self-aware, and kills the person she was sent to rescue. AMELIA also seems intent on wiping humans off the face of the earth, and when this becomes clear, Gemma is forced by a decidedly not-erased M3GAN (Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) to put her AI back in a body to fight AMELIA and her murderous ways. But Gemma being the constant skeptic when it comes to all AI, she isn’t sure her creation can be trusted, especially after the events of the first film.
We see the return of a few surviving research teammates of Gemma’s, including Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Epps), as well as a few nemeses, such as government agent Tim Sattler (Timm Sharp), billionaire tech giant Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement), and a supposed ally of Gemma’s in her AI-regulation fight, Christian (Aristotle Athari).
Also still present in M3GAN 2.0 is the dark humor, the PG-13 (but still kind of wild) bloody violence, and even some of the more touching moments, as M3GAN seems to be approximating being human, with emotions, friendship, and a protective spirit when it comes to Cady. And for those who only care about the dancing, yes, there is more dancing from our robot antihero. But whether she’s dancing for good or evil, you’ll have to find out.
The question you should ask before making any sequel is (or should be): Why are we making this? And there are usually two answers. One is to capitalize on the success of the original by recycling moments and dialogue; the other is to use the original as the foundation on which to build something bigger and better. M3GAN 2.0 does surprisingly well in capturing the spirit of the original film while still opting to go bigger and better by transforming into an action piece. There aren’t many surprises in the plotting, but what’s here is still pretty enjoyable, entertaining, and satisfying in this universe.
The humans still take the brunt of the abuse, so that’s cool, but the robot-on-robot fight sequences are quite spectacular as well. Not all of the humor or plot contrivances work, but the camp level remains intact, and the filmmakers have upgraded the thrill ride elements, making for a remarkably amusing follow-up. If you’re looking for more of the same, you might be disappointed, but as someone who enjoys it when filmmakers take the familiar and do something creative with it, I was mostly on board with this one.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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