M3GAN 2.0 - A Completely Different Kind of Sequel to that Sci-fi Horror Hit

As second of our movie marathon day, we saw this one together with one of my wife's nephew who happened to accompany us during that day. It was a film that was making some headline as the sequel to critically & quite commercially acclaimed hit back in 2022. All right then, let's get on with it.

Brief Story Line

Two years after the event of the first movie, Cady (Violet McGraw - The Life of Chuck, Jett TV series etc) was still a bit traumatized & having a bit of trouble fitting in. She had taken interest in computer science while her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams - Get Out, Fellow Travelers mini series etc) had become advocate for AI ethical usage together with cybersecurity expert Christian Bradley (Aristotle Athari - Molli and Max in the Future etc). However Gemma was still trying to show the world that AI was a good thing by creating something that would help humans in various labor work, along with her ex colleagues Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez - 80 for Brady etc) and Tess (Jen Van Epps - One Lane Bridge TV series etc). Her design caught the attention of tech billionaire Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement - A Minecraft Movie, Harold and the Purple Crayon etc).

Meanwhile the army under the leadership of Tim Sattler (Timm Sharp - Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series etc) had created an android for military purpose called AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno - The Spy Who Dumped Me etc). But things became problematic when she no longer follow command and Tim suspected of Gemma's involvement. It turned out though that M3GAN (portrayed by Amie Donald & voiced by Jenna Davis) was still alive and she decided to help Cady & Gemma to fight against AMELIA.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Well that was a pretty unique experience. When I saw the original film three years ago, I felt that it was more like a drama thriller with some sci-fi element which was fine but not exactly what I had hoped for. Then I saw the trailer to this sequel which looked different from its predecessor. It turned out that despite the existence of M3GAN who was still as witty as before, the movie shifted its genre to action which had strong Terminator feel without any horror. Yes there were still few killings done but it was not totally violent & gore (which would explain PG-13 rating just like before) and no horrifying images as well.

The movie itself did not have a slow pace and its duration of 120 minutes did not feel overly long as it swiftly move from one story to another nicely. The main attraction here was definitely the appearance of new robotic model AMELIA who was the opposite of M3GAN in term of their views against humans. Their fight scenes were pretty decent and quite well done, supported by good sound system in our studio (even though it was standard 7.1 surround effect) that made it more exciting. The story was not extraordinary & the subject of AI trying to do bad things were already told many times before. There was a small plot twist, though my wife and I already had feeling from early stage so it did not surprise us. Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scene here, except some flashbacks of the first movie during the closing credits.

The film was still directed by Gerard Johnstone who made the original based on story that he wrote together with Akela Cooper (writer of Malignant, The Nun II etc). It was also produced by Jason Blum and James Wan, the experienced horror producers who greenlit this sequel. The five main cast reprised their roles here, including Violet McGraw who looked a lot bigger compared to last time. There were not a lot of characters here and I have already mentioned all the relevant ones above. It did not have too much special effects and the production budget was kept small which should not be difficult to recoup it. I read the critics were quite divisive and not as impressed by the sequel compared to the first one. Not sure about audience yet (will have better idea in the upcoming weeks).

The way I saw it, this film need to be seen with open mind. If you are hoping for the same kind of level like in the original, then you would not find it here as it was action genre after all. But if you just want to see M3GAN do literally anything to protect Cady, then you would be satisfied by it. There were still some of those dark humor related to M3GAN's and Cole's behavior (the hilarious part here involved that funny small robot in unexpected shape). So as long as you manage your expectation and just see the film as another action flick, then I think you will be able to enjoy it.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars