AtanariaThe original M3GAN strutted onto screens in 2023 with Mary Janes, razor-sharp quips, and an unsettling dance sequence that instantly went viral. Equal parts cautionary tech parable and absurdist comedy, it carved a neat niche in the horror genre: one foot in satire, the other firmly planted in homicidal intent. The sequel, M3GAN 2.0, pirouettes in a decidedly different direction—less stabby menace, more unexpected superheroics. Think Freddy Krueger with a LinkedIn profile.
From the outset, the marketing campaign signaled a tonal shift. The posters—blaring “MISS ME?” and “I’M STILL THAT B”—read like the dispatches of an overly self-assured influencer. The M3GAN of old might have slit your throat; this one might just photobomb your TikTok. On screen, the pivot is complete: our once-murderous automaton is now recast as a savior, standing between young Cady (Violet McGraw) and a new mechanical menace, AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a government-grade killer bot with a CV heavy on collateral damage.
Allison Williams returns as Gemma, the reluctant toy-inventor-turned-tech-ethicist, now hawking a book with the hilariously bland title Modern Moderation. When AMELIA’s rampage threatens to hit close to home, M3GAN reappears—not in the flesh, but as a digital phantom haunting Gemma’s smart home. Her offer is simple: give her a body, and she’ll take out the competition. Cue the ethically dubious decision to build, in one character’s words, “a deranged robot to kill another one.”
Gerard Johnstone’s sequel shifts genres with abandon, trading much of its predecessor’s horror for kinetic, almost cartoonish action. M3GAN wingsuit-glides, deploys Batman-esque knockout gas, and even commandeers a car for a Knight Rider-style chase, punctuating the sequence with the immortal line: “Hold on to your vaginas!” It’s as if the film is in constant competition with itself to deliver the next meme-worthy moment.
The villain-to-hero arc is a time-honored trope—Terminator 2 did it with mechanical gravitas, Jurassic Park with toothy spectacle. But here, the transformation is so thorough it sands off the deliciously malevolent edges that made M3GAN such an electrifying creation in the first place. By the finale—a predictably operatic showdown with AMELIA—our silicone star feels perilously close to cuddly.
Still, the film knows how to lean into its own absurdity. Where the first M3GAN gave us an AI doll crooning Sia’s “Titanium,” the sequel offers a breathlessly earnest cover of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” in tribute to Gemma’s maternal and world-saving heroics. It’s simultaneously ridiculous and oddly touching—a microcosm of the franchise’s peculiar genius.
Ultimately, M3GAN 2.0 is a lighter, defanged confection, engineered less to terrify than to delight. It keeps the energy manic, the banter sharp, and the set pieces inventive, but sacrifices much of the dark satirical bite that made its predecessor so distinctive. The moral this time? Be kind to your AI. When the singularity comes, it might just return the favor.
