Review: M3GAN 2.0
Nobody really expected a little comedy horror film called M3GAN would be the breakout success that it was, but aside from all the viral dance memes and money it made, it apparently was ripe for a sequel.
M3GAN 2.0 is a movie that promises high-octane chaos and high-kicks from a pint-sized sociopath with a Wi-Fi connection—and yet, somehow, spends its first 30 minutes with characters passionately arguing against everything the audience paid to see.
Let’s start with the title. “2.0” suggests an upgrade, a sleeker, meaner, sassier version of the original. What we get feels less like an upgrade and more like when you download an update to your smart fridge and now it just beeps at you in French. Sure, it technically works, but nobody asked for this.
When we last saw M3GAN, she had gone full Alexa-on-bath-salts, attacking everyone who came near her beloved Cady (Violet McGraw). Gemma (Allison Williams), the overworked roboticist/aunt, had the good sense to shut her down before she turned the family Roomba into a tactical weapon. Now, it’s sequel time, and we all know what that means: M3GAN’s back, baby! Or… is she?
Gemma, who remembers the first movie as less of a campy meme-fest and more of a trauma documentary, spends the opening act treating M3GAN’s return like someone just suggested summoning Voldemort. Every other line is some variation of “Are you out of your mind?” as if she didn’t already live in a tech lab full of murder prototypes. Meanwhile, the audience is just sitting there, popcorn ready, silently begging someone—anyone—to hand her a wrench and get on with it.
Eventually, after what feels like 20 solid minutes of boardroom debates, brooding, and scenes where Gemma stares meaningfully at a soldering iron, we get our girl back. But only after a lot—and we mean a lot—of narrative yoga to justify it. There’s AMELIA, a rogue robot who makes M3GAN look like a babysitter with a mild caffeine addiction. There’s a tech bro subplot, an FBI subplot, a subplot involving Gemma and Cady’s emotional growing pains, and some kind of mysterious digital MacGuffin everyone wants. Honestly, it starts to feel less like a horror-comedy sequel and more like someone mashed up Ex Machina with a midseason episode of Silicon Valley.
But fear not. Once M3GAN finally boots up, things improve dramatically. The movie remembers what it’s here to do: let M3GAN do her little viral dance and belt out emotionally inappropriate ballads with the sincerity of a robot that just discovered Spotify. There is, of course, another viral-ready dance sequence, because all involved know their audience.
And while the action does pick up, it never quite reaches “blockbuster sequel” levels. Don’t expect James Cameron here. This is still very much a B-movie that knows it’s a B-movie. The fight scenes are solid, if not mind-blowing. The effects lean practical and charmingly lo-fi. Think “robot throwdown in an abandoned server room” rather than “explosive battle on a collapsing bridge.”
Tone-wise, it’s less Aliens and more Weekend at Bernie’s II: not necessarily better, but weirder, with a deeper commitment to the bit. It never takes itself too seriously, and there’s something almost noble about that. You get the sense the filmmakers knew they couldn’t top the original’s lightning-in-a-bottle weirdness, so they didn’t try—they just put the bottle back on the shelf, gave it a light shake, and hoped for some more sparks.
The film hasn’t really set the box office on fire either. When the original came out, AI was the start of a conversation and now two years down the track it seems like leaning into the more campy aspects of the story seem a little misjudged considering AI is posed to change the workforce in ways people are a little trepidous about. A sub plot with the main character testifying at a trial about the problems with AI doesn’t seem to quite address how quickly AI has taken hold but at least keeps the movie relevant.
Is M3GAN 2.0 essential viewing? Not really. And it doesn’t have as much to say about the rise of AI or any musings on weaponised misogyny as the recent film about another murderbot that Companion does either. But if your idea of a good time is a homicidal robot side-eying her way through an identity crisis while humming Top 40 hits and body-slamming rival AIs, you’ll find plenty to enjoy once it finally gets going. Just be prepared to sit through a TED Talk or two first.
