M3gan 2.0: Movie Review

Cast: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jemaine Clement, Jenna Davis, Ivanna Sakhno, Bryan Jordan Alvarez, Jennifer Epps, Aristotle Athari
Director: Gerard Johnstone

Upping the sci-fi elements and dialling down the horror this time around, the sequel to Gerard Johnstone's M3Gan provides plenty of sass and thrills - even if it does become bogged down with technobabble in parts.

When AI robot Amelia goes rogue under their control, the US government comes to the one person who survived another killer AI to help. But with Gemma (Williams) unable to commit to resurrecting M3Gan amid fears she'll try to kill them all again, it looks as if all is lost.

However, with the fears she'll be blamed for the tech being stolen and with Cady (McGraw) under threat, Gemma has no choice - and soon, the bitch is back with a new mission.

M3Gan 2.0 mixes elements of Raid-style heist action, Mission: Impossible shenanigans with large portions of Terminator 2 (once killer robot, now a colleague) and Metropolis references with veritable aplomb, with Johnstone upping the action ante while not always forgetting the comedy that made this (and Housebound) such crowd-pleasing favourites.

That said, while it's a heady mix, it’s also one that doesn't entirely always convince, despite the best intentions of everyone involved. There may be an evolution here and the requisite amount of sass between Gemma and M3Gan (much at the expense of the relationship with Cady that was so central to the first), but some of the freshness of the initial outing is lost amid the expanded and overly convoluted story.

Chiefly, Johnstone draws parallels with the march of AI in the real world, a bow that really doesn't need drawing and one which chooses to set aside the reason the first one worked - its campy, schlock-heavy vibe. And while Jemaine Clement provides the cheesy camp edge as a sleazy tech bro early on, the sequel soon shifts into more action-heavy sequences, giving expanded roles to Gemma’s tech team and moving away from the central family unit which worked so well first time.

There’s also a lot of talk about the dangers of AI among the wordy dialogue, a message that’s over-simplified and was already used first time around – and the tech bros as villains isn’t exactly new. Yet in parts, given the 1980 and 1990s edges and references that soak this kung-fu infused sequel, it’s perhaps in keeping with the vibe Johnstone’s gone for.

Some of the fight sequences impress though, with swirling cameras and tightly-focussed elements delivering a powerful punch when they need to and showing that lower-budget adept film-making will always triumph.

M3Gan 2.0 isn’t a disaster by any means, but it is a reminder that going bigger, bolder and brighter in this tech world doesn’t necessarily mean gifting the film with the upgrade that it clearly wants.