Film Review: M3GAN

Back in 2019, I wrote a film review on the remake of Child's Play. Just a couple weeks ago, I watched a movie in a similar vein - of an intelligent toy gone horribly wrong.

The malevolence of the antagonist of this movie seems derived from Chucky of Child's Play, but her technical specs resembles more the T-101 of The Terminator. Borrowing obviously from these two sources gives us M3GAN, a story of tech gone horribly, horribly wrong. Sound familiar?

Warning

Beware of spoilers! Not that you won't already guess everything that's about to happen. Things also get pretty gory, though not as much as it could have.

The Premise

Cady has just lost her parents to a terrible accident, and her aunt Gemma takes her in. Gemma also happens to be this genius robotics engineer who comes up with M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android), an experimental robot doll driven by A.I. She outsources her newfound parenting duties to this expensive toy, and soon finds that as the toy learns new information and adapts, her bond with her niece suffers even as Cady grows increasingly unhealthily attached to M3GAN. Soon, M3GAN begins making violent and homicidal decisions to fulfill her primary directive - to protect Cady from physical and emotional harm.

The Characters

Amie Donald and Jenna Davis as M3GAN. The sheer angelic features of this robot's face adds to the horror of her eventually homicidal tendencies. Face aside, the movements of Amie Donald had a good blend of being mechanical and yet lifelike. The various vocal expressions of exasperation, scorn and hostility are more than adequately conveyed by Jenna Davis. The personality is pretty close to Chucky's, as far as deranged psychopaths go. The inner workings, such as mimicry of voices and the glimpses we get of M3GAN's analytical POV are more reminiscent of the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

And some lines are a heady mix of badassery and scariness. Like the one below.

This is the part where you run.

Allison Williams plays Gemma, the main robotics genius character, with an almost shocking amount of disinterest. Not sure why, but the acting just seemed really wooden. I've seen her in Get Out before, and her performance there was more than decent, so it's not like she can't act.

Violet MacGraw as Cady. In contrast to Williams, this little tyke gives her all in a simultaneously anguished and heartwrenching portrayal of a pre-teen who is dealing with the emotional trauma of losing both parents at one go. The script demands so much range from her - sorrow, anger, dependence, hope, joy and heroism - and boy, does she deliver.

Ronny Chieng serves up an over-the-top performance as David Lin, Gemma's douchebag tech-bro boss. This was an inspired casting, the kind of role that fits Chieng like a glove. He's dickish, vulgar and loud. In other words, Ronnie Chieng plays his own public persona and not once did I think of this guy as "David Lin". The lines given to him are also delightfully crass, such as the gem below, early in the film.

This is the moment we kick Hasbro in the dick!

Stephane Garneau-Monten plays RonnyDavid's suck-up assistant Kurt. There's not much to this character besides being a yes-man and a conniving rat who steals company secrets and watches porn on company time. He's bland as unflavored oatmeal and it's not an exaggeration to say that him meeting a grisly end at M3GAN's adorable little hands is the character's single greatest contribution to the plot.

Jen Van Epps is Tess, the tech team's voice of reason. She serves as the calm source of sensible advice.

Brian Jordan Alvarez as Cole, the third member of the tech team. He serves as another warm body for M3GAN to abuse, but otherwise doesn't really do much.

Lori Dungey as Celia, Gemma's loud and inconsiderate dog-lover neighbor. Dungey plays her like an utter nightmare of a neighbor.

Amy Usherwood plays Lydia the therapist, who can get a little bit preachy. At some point, I started wishing M3GAN would kill her.

Jack Cassidy is the bully, Brandon. This character is set up to be an absolute asshole of a kid. Seems like an easy role to get into.

The Mood

Everything seems really colorful and festive. The energy in this film is one of good cheer. And even in the quiet and scary parts, the fun vibe never quite goes away.

What I liked

Entertainment value. The sheer campiness and manic energy makes this offering entirely watchable.

That scene of M3GAN dancing in the hallway before killing David, has gone viral on YouTube. And for good reason! This was so goofy, so dissonant, so out of left field, and I fucking loved it.

Just wanna say, the detective that Gemma speaks to after Celia is found dead, is a real hoot. He only appeared in one scene, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The music. M3GAN sings Titanium to Cady as a lullaby, and then later plays Toy Soldiers on the piano. So apt!

Cady using Bruce to save Gemma. Kind of saw that coming, but this was still awesome.

That sequel hook! Now that M3GAN has taken over Elisa, how much more terrifying will she be without a face?

What I didn't

This movie was predictable AF. Every jump scare, every plot development... nothing broke new ground and most viewers would see it all coming from a mile away. Didn't stop me from having an great time, though!

The fact that David and Kurt get killed off, just feels pointless. It's not like either were posing a threat. Honestly, I would have preferred Lydia to be the victim instead. Not only was she way more annoying, it would have made sense.

That sideplot of Kurt stealing company secrets also seems like a huge waste of time. Nothing really comes of it. I think more could have been done with this.

Conclusion

M3GAN had no surprises. No plot twists. It had no right to give me this much fun, but it did. This movie's a campy slasher tech thriller and it has no pretensions of aspiring to anything greater.

There are lessons to be learned from the movie, of course. Don't let tech be a substitute for parenting. Pain should be confronted instead of avoided.

And for the programmer, be careful what you create. The true horror of M3GAN is not that the tech went wrong, but that it went right. It worked how it was supposed to work; it was the programmer who was ultimately guilty of gross negligence.

My Rating

8.5 / 10

This is the part where I say goodbye!
T___T