A scene from ‘M3GAN 2.0’

Review: ‘M3GAN 2.0’ is a familiar story with more attitude

‘M3GAN 2.0’ revives the sassy android companion to take on a weaponized robot after the military loses control of it.

Killer dolls and artificial intelligence (A.I.) have inspired horror and science fiction stories for decades. However, only recently have the two concepts been combined. Now, adult’s and children’s toys are designed to respond to their needs, empathizing with the owner and trying to please them. The fear, of course, is that these machines override or misinterpret their programming, becoming an inadvertent danger to the humans they were designed to serve. The fact that people assume A.I. will eventually consider humans a threat to any positive directive really says more about us than them. In M3GAN 2.0, it turns out a girl’s android-best-friend really is forever.

Following the events of the first film, Gemma (Allison Williams) becomes an advocate for greater government restrictions on A.I., as well as less general reliance on technology in everyday life. Her team’s focus shifted to assistive technology and they’re marketing their latest invention to support the labour market. In the meantime, Cady’s (Violet McGraw) interest in A.I. has only grown as she continues to hone her skills in machine development. Unsurprisingly, M3GAN (Amie Donald) inspired a military project to replicate and weaponize a killer robot. But AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno) has predictably gone rogue and now the government wants to recruit its inventor to stop it.

The film begins as a lessons-learned, hardline, anti-A.I. narrative. Gemma has shifted all the way to the other end of the spectrum… though she still lives in a smart house suspiciously above her paygrade. Cady and the robotics team struggle with Gemma’s about-face, but understand it stems from guilt and best intentions, so they follow her lead as much as possible. However, as their project runs out of funds, turning down an offer from an unscrupulous tech giant (Jemaine Clement) who wants to combine their efforts is harder to swallow. The government isn’t exactly persuasive when they come demanding Gemma’s help either, though threats to their personal safety turn out to be more convincing.

M3GAN is as sassy as ever. She definitely didn’t lose her sense of humour when she lost her physical form. But time has taught her some valuable lessons about not killing Cady’s friends and family. While she’s still fully committed to protecting her best friend, she’s learned not all issues call for a lethal response — some just require total avoidance via a hidden lair. M3GAN’s key contribution to this narrative is she’s the only one that can be made strong enough to confront AMEILIA and stop her from achieving her ultimate goal. Of course, no movie only has a single villain anymore, so the weaponized fem-bot is not the only one they have to worry about.

If a reformed, killer robot back to protect its young charge sounds familiar, that would be because this narrative shares a lot of similarities with Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Gemma’s new war on A.I. aligns her with Sarah Connor, while Cady believes her robot can be good just like John. M3GAN obviously has more personality than the T-800, but AMELIA’s next level enhancements make her a good match for the T-1000. The first act is a bit more unique as it reacquaints audiences with the main characters and lets Clement loose as the rich, eccentric egomaniac. Midway through the second act, it begins to fall in line with the T2 narrative. And by the last act, it’s following the formula beat-for-beat.

This sequel doesn’t necessarily have a viral moment like the first picture, but it keeps its dark sense of humour. Even a rehabilitated android with attitude can deliver a sci-fi, horror comedy that’s fun to watch at least once — particularly for the sequence in which she’s made impotent by an inferior host body.

Director: Gerard Johnstone
Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw and Jemaine Clement

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