M3gan came out in 2022 to global knowledge.
The dance part having taken over TikTok fast.
After her parents die in an accident, 8-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw, from the Haunting of hill house) finds herself orphaned and in the care of her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams, from Get Out). Overwhelmed and unaccustomed to looking after a child, Gemma decides to create an experimental robot doll called M3gan (Model 3 Generative Android), based on adaptive artificial intelligence.
The robot is initially designed to take care of children instead of their parents so that “they can take care of what really matters,” according to Gemma. A true mother’s touch, obviously.
M3gan is bonded to Cady, with her sole directive being to ensure that no harm comes to her, and the doll fulfills her role as protector and friend wonderfully.
Her AI adapts this mission to all of life’s uncertainties with varying degrees of analysis, eliminating anyone or anything she perceives as a threat to Cady, completely autonomously and ruthlessly.
The movie quickly turns into a technological nightmare, showing that consciousness is the biggest point of distinction between artificial intelligence and humans. « Beware of the dangers of technology » is basically the motto.
The doll is killed by Cady, who, faced with the loss of her robot friend, prolongs the cycle of grief at her young age.
M3gan 2.0 : embracing the cringe
M3gan 2.0 came out in 2025 and picks up the lives of Gemma and Cady two years after the events of the first movie. Gemma is now campaigning for government regulation of AI, having written a « best-selling book » about M3gan, while Cady tries to resume a normal life, turning to sports and secretly learning about information technology.
The double irony here is great.
This second installment is more or less a parody of the first, with the team having a varying degree of understanding of what worked and what didn’t. Much more focused on comedy than horror, this franchise perfectly represents the gateway to the genre for new generations. It’s a teen movie if I’ve ever seen one.
In order to make the protagonist not a villain, but an anti-hero, a new robot was needed to confront her, and that’s where Amelia comes in.
Amelia is a humanoid military robot built using M3gan technology, who attempts to take control of an ancient AI chip by killing all its creators. That includes Gemma.
Secret cave of absurdity
We thus discover, as was implied at the end of the first film, that M3gan’s AI survived the robot’s death.
It then installed itself in the ultra-connected equipment of their home, silently watching over them for two years and creating a secret cave based on tax fraud in order to provide for them and protect them if necessary.
It’s completely improbable, and it fits strangely well with the franchise.
How did M3gan and Cady’s HUGE picture frame go unnoticed in their house ?
How could the construction of the cave not be heard ?
How did Gemma not get suspicious that all her books were sent to her own basement ?
How were they even shipped there without her noticing ?
The movie fully embraces its satirical side by leaving crazy questions unanswered…
She even built a new body for herself. With many limitations, she looked like she was created by Sid from Toy Story himself.
So she needs help to get a robot-efficient body that’d be ready for a future fight with Amelia.
Gateway horror for the TikTok generation
Humor and self-deprecation are really at the heart of this installment.
We moved on from grief pretty fast here.
M3gan sings again, but despite the palpable awkwardness of the situation, she carries on, as she does with the dancing. It’s no longer against a backdrop of murder, at least not on her part.
She is the protagonist of her own film, her artificial intelligence having evolved over the past two years.
She shushes Gemma who even tried to tone down the cringyness, to no avail.
They know what they made, and made fun of it.
The plot is basic, there are no surprises, which is why I expected bad reviews for M3gan 2.0, but it surprisingly gets a passing grade so far.
I wasn’t bored during the runtime, because despite the emphasis on action at the expense of horror, the humor sprinkled throughout makes it a rather enjoyable experience.
And that’s more than I can say about some movies. So good job on that.
My rating: 3/5 bats
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