Despite enjoying the original M3GAN a good bit, I had my concerns going into the sequel. The trailer hinted at a hard pivot from the first movie’s horror roots and frankly looked like it might get a bit absurd. The marketing itself was also so ubiquitous I began to feel myself being a bit annoyed by Megan.
I’m happy to report that the movie itself wiped all those concerns away and I actually think I enjoyed this sequel better than the original.
The movie sets us down two years after the events of the original story and sets up that Gemma (Allison Williams) is now serving as a major advocate against AI (after brief prison time for the events of the original) and particularly cautioning people not to let devices parent their children for them. Cady (Violet McGraw) is shown to have a better relationship with her aunt and has also learned martial arts, which of course will come in handy later.
Gemma and her original team that created Megan are now working on an exoskeleton to help humans compete with robots in the field as well as restore movement to paralyzed or otherwise immobile individuals. But we also see in the opening scene of the movie that a robot similar to Megan, dubbed AMELIA, is being used by the U.S. government to rescue a scientist captured in the Middle East. But when the operation goes horribly wrong, the FBI comes looking for Gemma as a suspect in selling off Megan’s design on the black market.
This plot eventually gets pretty absurd, but honestly, it barely matters. What’s important is the reintroduction of Megan, which we got a hint of at the very end of the first movie. Megan has managed to keep herself alive in the smart home’s internet devices and she surfaces to warn Gemma of approaching intruders. This disembodied version of Megan sets the bar for the movie as Megan helps the family avoid the intruders by activating devices in the home including a Roomba and a kitchen drawer.
As soon as that scene came around, I settled in for another good time as Megan was back in full sassy force with tongue firmly in cheek. This is yet another sharply written, campy satirical script that allows certain plot contrivances to simply be waved away, at least in my mind. It’s less about making an airtight plot and more about setting up more great action and comedy set-pieces for Megan to take advantage of, and there are quite a few.
This also works extremely well when taken for what it is, which is a direct homage to Terminator 2. That cinematic history helps to accept Megan’;s turn for the good, but the script does as well. After all, Megan’s actions in the first film were solely to protect Cady no matter the cost. Now Amelia is coming after everyone involved in her creation, so Megan needs a new body to help protect Cady and Gemma from this new threat.
I was concerned that wouldn’t be sufficient reason for Gemma to rebuild her murderbot, but the script leads it to being truly sensible as no other option, and the characters never fully trust Megan. I was also worried about the absurd costuming in the trailer that looked like it was out of an anime, but it turns out that scene is set at a comic-con type atmosphere as a disguise for Megan, which totally makes that concept work.
Amelia gets some pretty cool kill scenes, with one in particular that comes to mind. The creative use of AI connection in fights keeps this movie flowing inits pivot from horror to a sci-fi-action.
There’s a twist that is laughably telegraphed, but I didn’t mind it due to the strength of the script’s silliness elsewhere. I thought the ending premise of the film mostly sticks despite being a bit on the nose.
There’s one scene in this that had me laughing harder than I have laughed at any movie this year. It just got me.
