Blumhouse Archives - Screen Wolf

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.

Things That Stack Themselves Geometrically In The Night

One night various items in the kitchen are found stacked up on top of each other in complex patterns. With the family asleep while this was happening they suspect it is someones idea of a joke, but there is no sign of forced entry. The following night after activating their alarm the family a woken up when every sensor is tripped at once and all the family photos are stolen. This is just the start and following this each family member at some point or other ends up behaving strangely and losing time. Several flocks of birds converge and crash into the families house and despite activate their alarm system and installing cameras strange events continue to happen in the house and bypass this security.

Meanwhile through all this the pressures clearly start to get to the family. Eventually Lacy begins to suspect alien activity may be the cause (After investigating the bird situation and finding similarities with cases claimed to be aliens). After discovering geometrics shapes burned into the flesh of their kids Daniel accepts something beyond his comprehension is going on and they seek help from a UFO export, “Edwin Pollard” (Simmons). Here we get an exposition dump that leads us to the final act. The family is about to have one among them abducted and it’s up to them to stop it.

50 Shades of Grays

The plot for Dark Skies is pretty straight forward. Strange events occur until they can’t deny what is happening anymore and go for the exposition dump and a last stand. Who is going to be abducted is actually fairly obvious but the film tries really hard to swerve us. This is a one of those cases where movie makers obsession with subverting expectations actually makes the movie predictable instead of surprising. These days the biggest twist you could have in a movie would be to just play everything straight. But despite that, the movie doesn’t revolve around this twist so the predictability of it doesn’t harm it.

The character writing isn’t particularly good here, though the older boy’s struggles with puberty is quite endearing. The father is a bit of a jerk and his determination to believe the existence of aliens is utterly preposterous is grating. The thing is of all the far out explanations for things, Aliens is the most likely to be real. I mean it’s not like Lacy was telling him it was ghosts, demonic possession or the underpants gnomes. It’s a really big universe out there and many scientists have been of the opinion that alien life exists for a very long time. Indeed the drake equation (For calculating the number of technically advanced Alien Civilizations in our Galaxy) has been around since the 60’s. Skepticism I could get, but given just how crazy the events they were dealing with are I found his extreme reaction to the possibility unrealistic.

Tension and Boredom.

While the characters aren’t terribly well written, the actors do a pretty good job of bringing them to life. The events themselves are pretty well staged and it builds some solid tension. These are filmed in ways that would have cost virtually nothing and yet manage to present a solid amount of horror and mystery. It’s a classic approach to Sci-Fi horror that I appreciate. BY the end of the movie we gain some proper glimpses of the Grays and they look sufficiently scary. The soundtrack adds to this tension well with it’s minimalist approach and intense bursts of noise. These days many sound tracks are more noise based than melodic so this may have been a bit of a trend setter (I’d have to investigate that one further).

Overall, this is quite a mixed bag. The plot and characters are not actually that interesting and the pacing feels a bit plodding in places. I feel like this would have been better had they not waited so long to get to the exposition dump as without that there really is little story progress between each event. The way those events are presented are solid and almost makes up for the rest, but not quite. With a better script this could have been something great, but instead it’s ended up merely above average. This is a strong 5.5/10. Well made, but frankly a little boring.

Tag: Blumhouse

M3GAN 2.0 (2025)