Talk Horror The Mouth of Madness
It wasn’t so long ago that I wrote about upcoming horror films of 2025, and included M3GAN 2.0 as a horror movie I planned to view only if it were on streaming, and I could find nothing else to watch. Well fast forward a couple of weeks, and here I am, writing a review for a film I had absolutely no interest in watching. So did it live up to my already low expectations? Well before I share those, I have to make clear a few points I noticed with the film.
#1: M3GAN 2.0 is NOT a Horror Film
M3GAN came out in 2022 and was possibly the surprise horror hit of the year, earning over $180 million at the box office on a budget of just $12 million. With virtually no advertising to speak of, and emerging during the Covid19 pandemic which ravaged movie theaters, this was quite an accomplishment, and practically ensured that a sequel was to follow.
M3GAN 2.0 seemed to have bigger aspirations, and so it moved out of some of the darker undertones of the first film, embracing a sassy self awareness and some tongue in cheek humor while toning down the violence. It made the choice to go more mainstream, and with a budget that was potentially up to twice that of the original, it seems like the filmmakers were aiming for a more action oriented film with pertinent commentary on the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.
#2: Comparisons with Terminator 2 Seem Appropriate
Stop me if you’ve heard this story before: an android programmed to protect a child takes on a covert organization at the behest of said child in order to save the world. I guess you could replace the android with a cyborg, but you’d essentially have the basic dumbed down plot to Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
Now I’m not saying that M3GAN 2.0 is a rip off, but some of the basic elements of the stories are very similar. M3GAN, like the T-800 portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, has a plan to keep the child she’s programmed to protect, safe. Cady (portrayed by Violet McGraw) persuades M3GAN to go beyond that directive in order to keep others safe, kind of like the way John Connor (played by Edward Furlong) demands the T-800 protecting him to wound rather than kill. There is a seemingly unstoppable enemy (AMELIA played by Ivanna Sakhno in M3GAN 2.0, the T-1000 portrayed by Robert Patrick in T2); a maternal figure that the kids have grown apart from (Gemma portrayed by Allison Williams in M3GAN 2.0, Sarah Conner portrayed by Linda Hamillton in T2); and of course there is a shadowy network (Xenox in M3GAN 2.0, Skynet in T2) that seems to be warning of the dangers of self aware AI.
If you’re a fan of T2, you may well appreciate the manner in which M3GAN 2.0 pays homage to it’s story; similarly if you’re a fan, you may condemn M3GAN 2.0 as an inferior rip off.
#3: It Could’ve Been Shorter
I think everyone going in to the film understood the way things were going to go down, so I’m not sure we needed Gemma’s waffling, the creepy billionaire’s gross advances on AMELIA, or M3GAN giving Gemma a peptalk about her parenting before singing Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work. And can I ask who tells their child to go to bed, and then when the child objects, to take a melatonin?
There was a fair bit of filler that I suppose we’re supposed to think of as necessary, but which actually would be better identified as bathroom break time.
So is M3GAN 2.0 Worth Seeing?
As I’ve said, going in to the film my expectations were very low, and I thought I’d really dislike this film. But to give my honest review on it, I found it a fun watch. Once again it’s not a horror film, even though some of the TV spots seemed to suggest it would be at least part horror.
All that said however the film was better than I expected. True the pithy interactions between M3GAN and Gemma go from humorous to tedious pretty quickly, and the ending is cringy to a ridiculous degree, but the action is pretty well done and the film just looks good.
If I were rating it on a 10 point scale, I’d give it a 6.
Until next time…
JK away!
