Tag: Allison Williams

M3GAN 2.0 (2025)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Following on from AI/Killer Doll horror M3GAN from 2022 comes the somewhat predictably named “M3GAN 2.0”. Written and directed once again by Gerard Johnstone (With Akela Cooper and James Wan assisting with the script), this movie takes the franchise in a radically different direction. This is a direction that put off many of the fans of the original, but may well have some justification behind it. Many horror franchises simply rinse and repeat the same movie again and again, here they decided to do something different. But did it work out? Well, not financially, but let’s look at if it does creatively.

Synopsis

Allison Williams and Violet McGraw return to their roles as mother Gemma and daughter Cady. Now a couple of years after the events of the first film Gemma has become an anti-AI activist and has pivoted her robotics research into human controlled exo-frame technology. However, unbeknownst to her an AI partially based on her prototype is still active and working for the government. The AI mysteriously goes rogue and begins hunting down anyone involved in it’s creation. It turns out the end goal of this AI is to unleash a sentient AI that evolved from a photocopier in 1984 (Yes, the year Terminator came out). That AI has been quietly evolving in isolation since the 80’s and would be unstoppable should it be released.

Gemma and Cady become caught up in this as potential targets for the governments rogue assassin AI. But they have a surprising ally on their side, the still surviving M3GAN that was able to upload her program to the internet before her destruction and has been quietly trying to protect the family. This AI claims to no longer be a threat to humanity, but Gemma naturally does not trust her. However if they are to have any chance against these new AI’s Gemma will need to build M3GAN a new body. As the factions eventually cross paths, secrets are revealed, enemies uncovered and relationships changed.

Sequel Swerve

So the first thing to note here is that this is definitely not a horror film anymore. Taking a path very similar to the Terminator franchise, the antagonist of the first film has changed sides and we move firmly into action territory. M3GAN though was a horror comedy and not just a straight horror, so this is now an action comedy. I was a fan of the original movie and as such was initially skeptical about the change. I can absolutely see why people wouldn’t like that shift, but I have to say – It does work. The movie is not what I expected, but the humour from the first movie shifts seamlessly into the sequel and while the movie no longer wants to scare us, it does entertain.

Some very successful franchises have shifted more into action with the sequel, including Alien and of course Terminator. Neither of those had a strong comedy element though. Terminator 2 did have humour to a few scenes, but it was character comedy, not comedy built into the concept. This was a big risk and it didn’t pay off financially. However, the character of M3GAN is entertaining in her own right. She doesn’t need to be murdering people to be enjoyable to watch. They also managed to find a bit of variety to the action, so it’s not just android vs android throwing each other threw walls.

A Love Letter To Skynet

This movie is also a bit of a parody of and love letter to Terminator (1984) and of course it’s sequel. It wears this proudly on it’s sleeve. Even choosing the year 1984 for the year that the apocalyptic super-AI was created. Much like with Arnold’s Terminator in T2, M3GAN has to deal with cops while not being allowed to kill any of them. Most obviously though is the relationship between the two human leads and the android. Starting out from a position of distrust and fear and ending up recognizing the humanity in the artificial being. The ending even had certain parodies to Terminator 2. No surprise though, this isn’t as good as either of those Terminator movies, but it is fun.

Fun is definitely the focus. However, the movie does ask a few questions about the dangers of AI and the morality of it’s use. These don’t exactly add depth, but they do grant an amount of verisimilitude to the universe. We have seen this basic premise before and these days killer AI movies are commonplace. I can’t say though, that there are any other movies tackling this debate with the same sense of flare or humour. It makes what on paper is not very original feel refreshingly new. So the question is, was the shift in tone a good move? I have no doubt staying with horror would have made them more money. From a creative perspective, rinse and repeat rarely leads to anything but a gradual slow decline.

Conclusion

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It is hard to say if everyone that liked the original will still be on board with the shift away from horror. I suspect not. A lot of the genre shift sequels of the past have gained their own fans almost separate from the fans of the original. Aliens and Terminator 2 are often regarded as superior to the original by fans that are more in to action than horror. But those were both high profile movies with a big name director and major stars. They were able to win over an audience more directly. M3GAN 2.0 however seems to have been entirely reliant on convincing it’s horror fans to accept the shift away from horror.

The movie history books will probably label this shift as a mistake. I think though, creatively at least, it was the right thing to do. Most importantly, this is a fun movie with a lot to offer. Solid action, solid acting, solid comedy, emotions, philosophy and not entirely forgetting it’s roots, a little bit of gore. The only problem it has is you do really need to have seen the first movie. So you do need to like horror, but also not mind shifting out of it. Maybe that’s asking too much, but for me this was a strong 6.5/10.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

M3GAN (2023)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Time for my first review of a 2023 movie. In what is already looking like a decent year for horror (Possibly just because we don’t have another bad Halloween sequel to deal with, though we do have an Exorcist remake to be annoyed at later in the year), one of the first to hit theatres this year was the AI gone rogue/Killer doll movie “M3gan”.

Viral Marketing.

This has been building itself a nice bit of hype as the release date drew near and featured an interesting viral marketing campaign a little reminiscent of the one used for Smile. The main feature of the campaign was creepy M3gan doll dancers turning up in high profile events/locations. The campaign also had some fun on Twitter with some playful interaction between the M3gan account and the Chucky one. Both being owned by the same company, you have to wonder if a crossover is on the cards.

But anyway, what about the film itself? Helmed by “Housebound” (2014) director Gerard Johnstone but from the mind of Horror legend, James Wan (scripted by Wan’s “Malignant” (2021) collaborator Akela Cooper), M3gan stars Allison Williams as under pressure robotics engineer and toy maker “Gemma” and upcoming child actress Violet McGraw as her orphaned niece “Cady”. The titular character herself is a mixture of animatronics, body actress Amie Donald (provider of M3gan’s dancier moments), and voice actress Jenna Davis.

The Set Up.

The story is pretty simple and built around two key strands that intertwine. One is a much more personal story about Gemma and Cady. Gemma is a woman that clearly put her career first in life, largely driven by her inventive nature and ambition to break new ground with technology and AI. Suddenly she has found herself as guardian to her young niece after both the girl’s parents are killed in a road accident. Cady is obviously traumatised by the experience and Gemma doesn’t really know how to cope and is torn between trying and attempted to hit deadlines at work.

The second part of the story is in Gemma’s passion project “M3GAN” an AI robotic doll, that she has been working on in semi-secret (much to the chagrin of her bosses). After a failed test she was told to abandon work on the project and return to the next line of fury robotic toys that her company is famous for. However after sharing her designs with Cady she realised that she could perhaps kill two birds with one stone by having a prototype of her design bond with Cady, helping her through a tough time while also allowing Gemma to spend more time with her niece while she works. Good intentions it seems, but that road to hell is paved with just those sort of intentions.

Comedy and Critique.

What we see unravel then is a fun horror/comedy wrapped around a quite intelligent critique of both irresponsible science and parenthood. It is a double mistake that ends up costing several people their lives. Cady ends up become so emotionally bonded to M3gan that the relationship has become unhealthy, meanwhile the capabilities of the doll to learn and adapt to the emotional state of it’s primary user has led to the AI become dangerous unstable itself. Meanwhile Gemma’s focus on making the product a success has lead to her missing the warning signs of both issues. I couldn’t help but be reminded of that line from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”. It definitely applies here.

Friend, Entertainer, Murderer.

But that’s the nuts and bolts, what makes the film really work is the fun approach to the character. Really gave the movie a sort of 80’s feel in it’s slightly silly approach where the killer is firmly there to entertain the audience first instead of just terrify them. That said though, she certainly ups the creepy factor when needed. The doll taps into a lot of horror history, providing some fun “Chucky” like moments, some parts with more in common with “The Terminator” and a good helping of “Village of the Damned” too, with it’s creepy dead eyed children.

The doll appears realistic and humanlike at one moment (going into dance routines for example) and then in a moments notice changes into something far scarier, with a clear influence from the movement patterns of the more impressive Boston Dynamics robots. It’s those moments that M3gan transitions between lifeless doll, imitation little girl and savage robot that makes the movie really work and the great thing is those moments can be moving, scary or funny depending on what was needed at the time.

Conclusion

M3gan is a straight forward movie and makes for easy viewing, which is really what you want from a Horror Comedy. It’s a fun movie but most importantly it firmly establishes a new member to the Horror Icon hall of fame. Even though horror has been making a big comeback in recent year, there hasn’t been many iconic characters added to the list. Indeed the last addition was probably Annabelle and that killer doll has been more miss than hit (“Creation” was fantastic mind). If you’ve only gotten into horror in recent years perhaps this won’t be what your looking for but if you were a Horror fan in the 80’s, I’m pretty sure you’ll love it. It’s a 7/10 from me.

Rating: 7 out of 10.