‘M3GAN 2.0’: A Mostly Successful Genre Turn For A Surprise Icon

Accidental gay icon M3GAN was one of the surprise hits of 2023, a campy horror-comedy offering written by Akela Cooper (Malignant) that asked… What if you had a personal killer robot with a sassy attitude who’d do anything to protect you?

Now, the unexpected gay icon is back in M3GAN 2.0, which is to its first film what T2 is to The Terminator. It’s obviously nowhere near the level of James Cameron’s action masterpiece, and it’s a surprisingly dialogue-heavy piece of speculative sci-fi that doesn’t always work. Nonetheless, it’s easy to appreciate that returning director Gerard Johnstone decided to get kinda weird with it.

M3GAN (Amie Donald & Jenna Davis) is dead. At least that’s what inventor-turned-AI ethics advocate Gemma (Allison Williams) and her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) think before they discover her code lives on in AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a new robot designed by the US government who goes rogue on her first special ops mission.

AMELIA soon accumulates immense power, with the fate of the world at risk. Lucky for everyone, M3GAN has lived on in the digital world and is feeling kind enough to keep the collapse of society from occurring on her watch. After all, she was programmed to protect Cady!

The raising of the stakes in M3GAN 2.0 is frankly ridiculous. Although the first film was a very camp horror flick, its sequel doesn’t even attempt to bring any kind of scares as it changes genres to sci-fi action where our titular character is stealthing around and trying to save the world from an AI armageddon.

Furthermore, they fully lean into M3GAN’s newly attained cultural status after her dancing and generally hilarious demeanour in the first film. She’s mean, protective and shows a surprising amount of character growth, with two great performances behind it to match. Amie Donald’s physical performance and Jenna Davis as the voice once again collaborate in a genuinely fantastic manner, making it easy to remember why the first film was a hit.

M3GAN 2.0 switches genres better than expected

Each of the returning cast members are also doing solid work, particularly Alison Williams, while the new additions are more hit and miss. Jermaine Clement makes a brief, serviceable appearance as not-Elon Musk and Aristotle Athari is firmly okay as anti-AI activist Christian Bradley. Ivanna Sakhno is quite good as AMELIA, bringing a steel-jawed expression that makes her android status firmly believable.

Unfortunately, it takes a while for M3GAN 2.0 to really boot up. The script takes a long time to set up its new, ludicrously high stakes or even reintroduce M3GAN back into the story, which is a choice that left me a bit confused. It’s indicative of a wider problem with the film that lies in its increased level of techno-jargon and expectedly prominent ideas about AI.

Once M3GAN does properly return in all her audacious, slightly uncanny glory, the film undeniably comes alive. I don’t doubt some will be left confused by 2.0’s switch to straight up action, but I found it worked surprisingly well. The fights are directed with a surprising level of competence that honestly makes the genre switch feel less jarring than it could’ve.

The story is a little bit nonsense, and has some questionable musings on artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, M3GAN 2.0 is fun. Its unexpectedly competent genre turn and overall absurdity won’t be for everybody, and certainly not for those seeking a hardcore horror thrill. But when you’ve got a character as fun as M3GAN, limiting her to a single genre would only be doing her a disservice. Let her spread her wings.

★★★

M3GAN 2.0 is in cinemas now.