#42: M3GAN 2.0

 

STARRING: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ivanna Sakhno and Jemaine Clement. Written by Gerard Johnstone and Akela Cooper. Directed by Gerard Johnstone. Budget $25 million. Running time 120 minutes.

The sequel to the 2022 grossed £181 million worldwide and scored a very satisfying 93% on Rotten Tomato. It was a tight, little horror thriller with a great premise and a genuinely creepy protagonist that didn't outstay its welcome. So it was a no brainer that we'd be getting a sequel, with a great little template to follow what could possibly go wrong?

Cut to three years later and M3GAN 2.0 has arrived and we found out exactly what could go wrong. 

This feels far more like M3GAN 3 than 2. Traditionally with a direct sequel we get more of the same just amped up to the Nth degree. It's usually only in the 3rd installment that the increasingly desperate film makers try to mix things up and oomph the anti to entice the audience back. And that's what this does in absolute spades but sadly it doesn't pay off. That said, this isn't a trainwreck by any measure, it still rather entertaining, it's just overloaded with far too much stuff, and M3GAN has gone from creepy girl-sized killer robot to a young woman with protocols to prevent her harming humans. And she's up against another killer AI female robot killer. This is much more science fiction than the original and the introduction of a super AI intelligence trying to escape into the real world feels awfully similar to a certain Mission Impossible film from a month or so back. 

Actually that said, you kinda of wish that there'd been a similar sort of showdown in MISS IMP: DR between Ethan and the Entity as we see here between M3gan and the AI, a physical kinda of showdown rather than the dimming of the lights we were given. 

This time round there's more humour, more gurning and more camp, but far less in the way of horror or tension. 

Entertaining while it's on, but utterly forgettable once it's over.

6/10