Since the creation of computers, and especially with the invention of artificial intelligence, people have been afraid that machines will take over the world someday. That scenario has been played out several times on the big screen over the years, and a perfect example was 2022's feature film M3GAN. Created by computer scientist Gemma (Allison Williams; Get Out), the life-like doll was meant to be a playmate for her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw; The Haunting of Hill House). However, when M3GAN took her programming a little too literally, she had to be stopped. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to destroy the prototype for good, which is what they thought they did.
Three years later, as Gemma and her team are preparing their new, "consciously responsible" tech gadget to launch, Gemma is contacted by the FBI and informed that M3GAN's technology has been used to build a Robot-like soldier that has gone rogue and is now killing everyone who helped create it and that she and Cady may be targets. But just as things seem as if they can't get any worse, M3GAN (Amie Donald; Sweet Tooth/voiced by Jenna Davis; Lisa Frankenstein) seems to pop back up, as she has been "hiding" in Gemma's technology the whole time. Gemma must now decide if M3GAN can be trusted so she can help Gemma and Cady stop A.M.E.L.I.A. (Ivanna Sakhno; Ahsoka), the soldier out to kill them.
Williams once again portrays Gemma as the control-freak Aunt/Mom to Cady that we remember from the first movie. Brian Jordan Alvarez (English Teacher) and Jen Van Epps (No Exit) also return as Gemma's team. A more grown-up Donald gives M3GAN a more mature physique while Davis offers the same sweet voice that made M3GAN seem innocent with a touching, menacing undertone. Joining them are Sakhno and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live), who bring a new element to the sequel. Sakhno is very good but Athari is annoying, kind of like an itchy bug bite that you keep scratching but just won't go away.
Also returning are director/co-writer Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) and co-writers Akela Cooper (The Nun II) and James Wan (Saw), who infuse the sophomore effort, in what could become a franchise, with the same intensity we saw from the original movie three years ago. Where they falter is in Act III, which becomes a little too far-fetched and ridiculous even for a movie about AI and human-like robots.
What M3GAN 2.0 has going for it is some smart dialogue, though I will admit some of the nerdy tech stuff did go over my head. It also has a large amount of humor, some of which is extremely funny and lands perfectly with the audience. It has some great easter eggs and homages to other films and songs that older audience members will enjoy, and, finally, there is some blood but nothing too gory that will gross out individuals with weak stomachs or perhaps teenage audience members.
I certainly wouldn't say M3GAN 2.0 was predictable, but by the end, you could see the plot twist coming a mile away, and as previously mentioned, Act III needed a rewrite so it wouldn't venture off into superhero, God-like, groan-worthy, eye-rolling idiocy-but sadl,y that didn't happen.
Three years ago, M3GAN really opened audiences' eyes to the idea of viable, self-sustaining technology, and its sequel not only questions the ethics and morality of that but takes the concept even one step further. Fans of the original will enjoy this second installment as much, if not more, than the first, but I wonder if the writers and director have enough good ideas to continue the franchise for a few more years. We will simply have to wait and see.
