M3GAN in ‘M3GAN 2.0’, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo: Universal Pictures.
‘M3GAN 2.0’ receives 5.5 out of 10 stars.
Opening in theaters June 27 is ‘M3GAN 2.0,’ written and directed by Gerard Johnstone and starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Ivanna Sakhno, Brian Jordan Alvarez, and Jemaine Clement.
Related Article: Where To Watch the Blumhouse Thriller ‘M3GAN’ and its Unrated Version
Initial Thoughts
(from left) M3gan and Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno) in ‘M3GAN 2.0’, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo: Universal Pictures.
If you think of 2023’s ‘M3GAN’ as ‘The Terminator,’ then ‘M3GAN 2.0’ is in many ways the ‘Terminator 2’ of this budding franchise. By that we mean it’s bigger, more lavishly produced, louder, and more action-packed. And it actually kind of follows the same story beats as ‘Terminator 2’ in its own fashion. But while ‘T2’ is as much of a classic and perhaps even better than its predecessor, we can’t say the same for ‘M3GAN 2.0.’
In its ambition to be a bigger film with something on its mind, yet while trying to retain the campy, comedic tone of the first movie, ‘M3GAN 2.0’ falls into the all-too-familiar trap of accomplishing neither. It’s funny from time to time, with a few good jokes (although not necessarily worthy of the loud performative laughter that bellowed in our theater), and the cast – particularly the tag team of Amie Donald and Jenna Davis as the body and voice of M3GAN, respectively – are all committed to the bit. But the movie doesn’t quite achieve the balance it strives for and ends up becoming more uninteresting and incoherent as it cranks along for nearly two hours.
Story and Direction
Director Gerard Johnstone on the set of ‘M3GAN 2.0’, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo: Universal Pictures.
‘Terminator 2’ is a good comparison plot-wise here. Whereas the relentless killing machine of ‘The Terminator’ became the good guy in ‘Terminator 2,’ sworn to protect John Connor against an even more formidable and seemingly unstoppable enemy, pretty much the same thing happens in ‘M3GAN 2.0.’ Two years after M3GAN was apparently destroyed by Gemma (Allison Williams) after a murderous rampage in which the android doll killed everyone it deemed a threat to Gemma’s orphaned niece Cady (Violet McGraw), traces of her still linger in their home security system and a little robot in which Gemma has encased her creation’s files. Gemma, meanwhile, has become an activist for reducing the presence of A.I. and smartphones in people’s – especially kids’ – lives.
M3GAN’s original coding, however, has been hacked by persons unknown and developed in another robot, an autonomous military engagement logistics and infiltration android, aka AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno). But while surreptiously deployed on a black ops mission by U.S. intelligence, AMELIA goes rogue and soon starts killing everyone associated with her creation and that of M3GAN. With Gemma, her assistants Tess (Jen Van Epps) and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez), and Cady presumably on that list, they have no choice but to reboot M3GAN into a brand-new cybernetic body and trust her to protect them from AMELIA. But can she be trusted?
In another callout to ‘Terminator 2’ (among additional nods to movies like ‘RoboCop,’‘Ex Machina,’ and others), AMELIA has a Skynet-like desire to cripple human society by taking control of all our electronics, cloud services, and other online capabilities. There is even another artificial intelligence that comes into play in the second half of the movie that can seemingly provide AMELIA with godlike omniscience, although that is one of the many facets of director Gerard Johnstone’s busy, overstuffed script that kind of overloads the movie’s circuit board. There are also government agencies and rival corporate interests involved, although it doesn’t all make sense much of the time.
M3GAN in ‘M3GAN 2.0’, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Whereas the first movie was a relatively contained, effective, bracing, and lively blend of horror and camp, ‘M3GAN 2.0’ is all over the place story-wise. Exposition, betrayals, mind-melds, and robotic reboots pile endlessly atop one another in a snarl of narrative threads that would clog up any computer’s cache. It’s hard to keep track of who’s double-crossing who as the movie goes on, and it’s not helped by a particularly weak villain whose reveal is not that surprising but also doesn’t provide the necessary spark to liven things up.
But most importantly, ‘M3GAN 2.0’ is simply not as much fun as the first movie. It’s not as fresh, its plot is derivative as we’ve noted, and the dark hilarity of the first film only comes in fits and spurts here. Johnstone seems to have more trouble balancing the tone this time around, perhaps because his script is not as witty as that of the first film (which was written by Akela Cooper). There are some good lines, some decent violence and action (M3GAN and AMELIA both know how to dispatch people in some pretty bloody ways), and a couple of emotional beats that stick the landing. But when the movie has to contrive a way to work a new dance number for M3GAN into the movie just because they have to call back to that now-classic meme/scene from the first film, you have to wonder why this sequel exists.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Allison Williams as Gemma and Aimie Donald as M3GAN in ‘M3GAN 2.0,’ directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo: Universal Pictures.
The non-human characters here are still the main attraction. Amie Donald and Jenna Davis effortlessly recapture both the weird, uncanny valley physicality of M3GAN and her deceptively innocent voice, and the A.I. blurting out “What the f**k is this?” when she first finds herself in a little tabletop robot that looks like a Teletubby is a laugh-out-loud moment. Donald and Davis give an authentic performance together and make M3GAN’s arc believable and even poignant at points.
Ivanna Sakhno (‘Ahsoka’) is both magnetic and chilling as AMELIA, bringing an efficient coldness to the character even if her motivations and self-awareness are one of the murkier aspects of the story. Allison Williams is less the human center of the story this time – this is much more of an ensemble piece – but is confident throughout and does offer some funny moments of her own, as when she implores M3GAN to “not get to the chorus” as the latter begins singing Kate Bush’s ‘This Woman’s Work’ to convince Gemma that she’s actually a good mom.
The rest of the cast range in tone and ability from perfectly fine to just adequate, while Jemaine Clement arrives early to steal every scene he’s in as a debauched, unscrupulous tech billionaire who wants to subsidize Gemma’s latest invention – exosuits to help humans perform physically demanding tasks – and is eager to invest in taking her clothes off as well. He’s one of the film’s more consistent comic bright spots.
Final Thoughts
Ivanna Sakhno as Amelia in ‘M3GAN 2.0’, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Shot by cinematographer Toby Oliver, ‘M3GAN 2.0’ is a handsome production indeed, with some sumptuous sets and lighting throughout, while the visual effects team (and animatronics lead Mark Setrakian) bring M3GAN to life around Donald’s performance even more seamlessly and realistically this time, along with AMELIA. The production values here are a step up from the first film and it’s on the screen.
But something got lost along the way, and ‘M3GAN 2.0’ feels more like corporate product than hand-crafted fun like the first film. Gerard Johnstone’s underlying message is a plea to not let A.I. take over our lives and world – ironic given how A.I. even now is snaking its way deeper and deeper into the production of film and TV. Let’s hope that by the time the third film rolls around (and that door is left fully open, by the way), ChatGPT won’t be writing the script on its own. Even the tonal and narrative confusion of ‘M3GAN 2.0’ would be better than that.
“Miss me?”
Showtimes & Tickets
After the underlying tech for M3GAN is stolen and misused by a powerful defense contractor to create a military-grade weapon known as Amelia, M3GAN’s creator Gemma… Read the Plot
What is the plot of ‘M3GAN 2.0’?
Two years after the robot M3GAN (Amie Donald) embarked on a murderous rampage before being destroyed, her tech has been stolen and misused by a powerful defense contractor to create a military-grade robot named AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), which becomes a threat to human existence. M3GAN’s creator Gemma (Allison Williams) is convinced by her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) that the only option is to resurrect M3GAN and give her a few upgrades so she can defeat AMELIA — or can she?
Who is in the cast of ‘M3GAN 2.0’?
- Allison Williams as Gemma
- Violet McGraw as Cady
- Amie Donald as M3GAN
- Jenna Davis as the voice of M3GAN
- Brian Jordan Alvarez as Cole
- Jen Van Epps as Tess
- Aristotle Athari as Christian
- Ivanna Sakhno as AMELIA
- Jemaine Clement as Alton Appleton
M3GAN in ‘M3GAN 2.0’, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo: Universal Pictures.
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