Review: ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Turns Up The Dial To 11 But Unfortunately Lacks Substance

In 2022, M3GAN danced into our hearts with its Terminator-meets-Child’s Play energy. It turned into a box office sensation too, pulling in over $180 million from a $12 million budget.

Predictably, a sequel went into production, even though it wasn’t necessary if we’re being entirely frank here. But does M3GAN 2.0 justify its existence or turn into yet another retread of the funny killer doll genre? Mild spoilers for M3GAN 2.0 to follow.

Set two years after the last movie, M3GAN 2.0 finds Gemma (Allison Williams) and Cady (Violet McGraw) in different places. Gemma has become an advocate for AI regulation and staunchly against using AI in humans, while Cady develops a curious mind for technology. When a military robot named AMELA (Ivanna Sakhno) goes rogue, Gemma fears that she could be coming after her and Cady. At the same time, M3GAN (Amie Donald/Jenna Davis) starts to communicate with Gemma again, letting her know that she’s the only one who can stop AMELIA. To do so, though, Gemma needs to rebuild her body.

Oh, it’s much wilder than before 

Gerard Johnstone – the director of M3GAN – returns for M3GAN 2.0 and also takes over screenplay duties from Akela Cooper. It’s noticeable that there’s been a change in writer here, as the sequel elevates the camp even more. Whereas Cooper walked a tightrope between horror and comedy in the first movie, Johnstone throws every plausible element out of the window and embraces the meme aspects of M3GAN. From a mile away, you can see that Johnstone is a major fan of the later Chucky films, injecting the same kind of dark humor into the story. There’s actually a scene where the human characters consider sacrificing the safety of someone they don’t particularly care for, proving that M3GAN and AMELIA might not be the only ruthless ones here.

Johnstone commits to the madness in an impressive manner, because it’s unlikely that anyone will come out of M3GAN 2.0 saying they weren’t entertained. Whether it’s seeing M3GAN take control of a supercar, or her learning martial arts because of Cady’s obsession with Steven Seagal, the film doesn’t let up for its two-hour runtimes, unleashing a constant flow of gags and good times.

‘M3GAN 2.0’ has one major problem

While the fun factor gets tripled in M3GAN 2.0, the movie suffers in one specific area: the lack of a clear message. The first movie warns about parents using technology to parent their children, while the sequel speaks out of both sides of its mouth on the topic of AI. On the one hand, it tells humans to be wary of technology without regulation, while on the other, it says technology is important and we should respect it in case it goes rogue. 

Considering the current state of AI where Big Tech suckles at its teat as if it’s a messiah of the next revolution that will wipe away the working class, the second part of the message feels condescending. Everyone understands that technology possesses the potential to assist humans, but the problem is who holds the technological power in the first place. Big Tech isn’t about to create systems that simplify the access to healthcare or education, because that will impact the bottom line of shareholders. Instead, Big Tech creates cute tools that plagiarize without consequence and can be sold to companies looking to downsize workforces. Technology isn’t the issue; it’s about who controls its application – and unfortunately, those individuals are more soulless than the tech.

Where does the franchise go from here?

Apart from this messaging issue, M3GAN 2.0 does a fine job in furthering the relationship between Gemma, Cady, and M3GAN. It doesn’t regurgitate the same dynamics from the first film, as there’s constant reference to them all having grown and changed since the last outing. Character development is important, so it’s good to see that the characters aren’t all behaving the same way as before.
M3GAN 2.0 surpasses the energy of the first film, even if it doesn’t quite have the same magic. It’s a fun flick that’s designed to entertain – and nothing more. That being said, it’s tough to see a third movie after this, because let’s face it, even the manic M3GAN needs a little more substance than this.