In the grand tradition of sci-fi horror sequels, M3GAN 2.0 brings the robot back, but this time, she’s not trying to kill you. Of course, there’s a murderous robot that Gemma (Allison Williams) and Cady (Violet McGraw) work together to take down, but in a not-so-shocking twist, they have to turn to M3GAN to save the day. After taking on the discourse of parental reliance on screens and disconnection from children in the first movie, M3GAN 2.0 takes a much more global look at the future of AI. M3GAN 2.0, like its тιтular robot, has grown a lot these past few years.

Between the gags and M3GAN’s tongue-in-cheek dialogue, the film slips in some genuine commentary on societal fears and dreams about AI. Gerard Johnstone, the director of the original M3GAN, returns to helm the sequel, with almost all the key players from the first movie coming with him. Williams is as funny as always as Gemma, looking for redemption as much as her creation is, and she, like the rest of the ensemble, has embraced her connection to the world of M3GAN. However, it’s the robot herself who ends up tugging on our heartstrings by the end of the film.

M3GAN 2.0 Isn’t A Horror Movie, It’s An Action Thriller

Just Like Its тιтle Character, M3GAN 2.0 Is Evolving To Suit Our Needs

From the film’s opening sequence, M3GAN 2.0 immediately draws more comparisons to an installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise than to its predecessor. With glamorous dresses, expensive cars, and prolonged sequences spent infiltrating secret labs and lairs, M3GAN 2.0 is closer to a plot-heavy spy flick than a horror movie. The original M3GAN was far from the most gruesome or tense film of the decade, but this won’t even give you chills. Ivanna Sakhno’s AMELIA has her terrifying elements, but not quite in the otherworldly sense of a typical horror villain.

Her position as the antagonist shifts constantly throughout the story as we learn more about her creation and the motivations behind making such a powerful and dangerous piece of technology. M3GAN had a narrow scope that zeroed in on the emotional and interpersonal. However, M3GAN 2.0 takes its significantly larger budget and looks to tackle not just the existence of AI, but also the people who would rely on it or curb it. The story’s takeaway is a comforting but bland middle ground, telling us that all extremes are wrong, even when it comes to violent killing machines.

Outside the AI space-race storyline, there’s little exploration of Gemma and Cady’s emotional attempts to connect that drove M3GAN. This creates less justification for the audience to invest in the story. Well aware of this, M3GAN 2.0 doesn’t rely on pathos, instead embracing its new idenтιтy as a full-fledged action franchise with a sprinkling of horror elements. Additionally, it’s M3GAN’s redemption arc that we’re most invested in by the end of the film. We’re asked to believe that she might be closer to a person than we thought, capable of defying her source code to make moral choices.

M3GAN 2.0 is too silly and outright satirical for us to take its opinions on AI regulation seriously, but that doesn’t stop the movie from trying. In a few interesting twists, M3GAN 2.0, like most of the big tech companies the project attempts to lampoon, seamlessly places the blame and the burden of learning to control AI on us. The sequel is premiering in a world that’s been steadily embracing AI, and Johnstone knows this technology isn’t going anywhere. Perhaps it’s meant to be comforting that we have the power to shape AI in our hands.

However, it’s bleak to see a film so certain we’re on a runaway train we can’t get off. The solution is in Gemma’s arc, which mirrors the journey the audience is supposed to go on throughout the narrative, taking responsibility and not seeing AI one-dimensionally, for good or bad. Fortunately, M3GAN 2.0 never dwells on the more self-serious aspects of the story for too long, always letting M3GAN get in a one-liner or dance sequence before our attention is lost. The most annoying thing about M3GAN 2.0 is the excess of moments created as sound bites for TikTok audio.

M3GAN 2.0 Is As Funny As Ever, But It’s A Little Too Aware Of Its Legacy

With A Few Too Many Winks At The Audience, M3GAN 2.0 Doesn’t Have Quite As Much Camp

When watching horror today, it can easily feel as if the genre can either be soaked in grief with no respite or pure campy comedy with nothing to say. The original M3GAN fell into the latter category. However, it straddled the line well, with humor that felt naturally occurring, and the campy elements were born of the low-budget resources and creative attempts to make discussions of AI fresh for modern audiences. M3GAN 2.0 doesn’t lose this completely, but the more polished and grown-up world doesn’t fit as easily into the silly sense of humor that made M3GAN so popular.

The M3GAN franchise has become as self-aware as its robots, but this hasn’t killed the story’s potential. But it does make for a film that’s visibly searching for its tone, purpose, and place in the canon throughout the narrative. M3GAN 2.0 is likely the first in a long line of M3GAN projects that will toe the line between horror, comedy, and action. This summer has already been stellar for the movies, and there’s no reason why audiences shouldn’t let M3GAN 2.0 be the next fun blockbuster to enjoy with a packed theater full of people ready to laugh along with the film.