What everyone overwhelmingly loved about M3GAN was unanimous and obvious: Allison Williams’ fascinating character…whatshername. “More Allison Williams,” cried fans of a movie about a killer robot that was not played by Allison Williams. Who doesn’t remember all those hilarious memes from the first film, which all prominently featured Allison Williams dancing before she murdered people?
In the same way that A.I. “hallucinations” have found their way into reports guiding our very real healthcare policy, some bot somewhere must have fully imagined a rabid Allison Williams fandom that simply does not exist before contributing to the script of M3GAN 2.0. How else do you explain a plot that sidelines its titular character before returning her as some kind of antihero?
That is another fictional demand written on an imaginary ransom note: No human being who isn’t heavily invested in Silicon Valley wants to see artificial intelligence reframed as a superhero right now. “Maybe we misunderstood the supercomputer trying to kill everyone” ought not be the message of the moment. Although, to say that M3GAN 2.0 has any kind of message at all is a bit generous. It is the kind of yawn-inducing cash grab that doesn’t even deserve an extreme negative reaction.
In the same way that the introductory text of the most maligned Star Wars movie announced “somehow Palpatine returned,” somehow M3GANis back. There’s another robot named Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno) that is running amok and uses some of M3GAN’s materials. Why and how did Amelia go bonkers? Ah, that is a mystery sure to befuddle anyone flummoxed by the puzzles on the back of a cereal box.
After the tragic events of the last installment, Gemma (Williams) and her business partners Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Epps) are working on technology less likely to kill people. It still gets used for that purpose, don’t worry. Gemma has now teamed up with Christian (Aristotle Athari), an activist seeking legislation to reign in A.I.
Meanwhile, Cady (Violet McGraw) hasn’t exactly come to see her aunt Gemma as her “new mom” but as an acceptable care provider who lets the tween train in martial arts like her hero, Steven Segal. Ah yes, the unproblematic and not-at-all-dated pop culture icon Steven Segal, who becomes a literal plot point.
Amelia’s rampage poses a threat to Gemma and Cady, so M3GAN(Amie Donald and Jenna Davis) pops out from the shadows to protect them. For borderline hilarious reasons, everyone agrees to craft the once-evil computer consciousness a new body. Borderline hilarious is really the whole problem, as the movie seems tempted to lean fully into humor. Look no further than Jermaine Clement’s appearance as someone who couldn’t possibly be Elon Musk because he has an entirely different name. And yet, M3GAN 2.0 ultimately either can’t commit to the bit or can’t effectively pull it off, one of the two.
As the film bumbles on, it becomes more exhausting than goofy, completely ditching the horror genre for what passes as almost family-friendly action. If anyone watched M3GAN’s debut and thought the answer was less gleeful carnage, that person was Allison Williams or a close personal friend of Allison Williams, who dominates the screen time here. It’s not that she’s bad in the movie, by the way. Her character is just written to be completely generic and personality-free, which is not what you build a good film around, you know?
This series could have worked as a revamped, kitschy and clever, modernized Child’s Play. It simply will not function as…whatever the hell this is. This will please no one. No one except Allison Williams. That doesn’t mean we won’t get more. It just means we shouldn’t get more. Then again, when it comes to A.I., “should” and “shouldn’t” are decisions that exist mostly outside of our control at this point.
Grade = D
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Hoai-Tran Bui at Inverse says, “Despite the layer of cynicism bubbling under the surface, and the film’s sometimes irritating insistence on doubling down on the original film’s most meme-able moments, M3GAN 2.0 is a grand, absurdly fun good time.”
Kristy Puchko at Mashable says “Like Loki from the MCU, M3GANhas been retooled to make her more appealing and less threatening — therefore destroying a HUGE PART OF HER APPEAL!”
Amy Nicholson at the L.A. Times says “M3GAN 2.0 is at heart a B-movie about a technological arms race fought by femmebots with literal swinging arms. It’s dopey by design.”
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