M3GAN (2022) Review
- Horror Film Reviews
Tom Atkinson- 16
- 5 minutes read
Buying a life-sized doll with artificial intelligence that is designed to be your kid’s best friend and protector (when you’re not around) sounds like the sort of thing that would appeal to lots of parents out there.
But as is usually the case with sci-horror (the genre that best fits M3GAN) what starts out like a great idea usually ends up as a very bad one.
M3GAN is a technological marvel. A super-realistic doll that can walk and talk like the kids she’s made to befriend. And once she has been linked with her special person, she’s the child’s best friend and a parent’s live-in babysitter.
M3GAN is the creation of Gemma, a young, single woman that lives alone and devotes most of her time to working with her team to develop cool tech toys. Unexpectedly her sister and brother-in-law are killed in an accident, leaving her 8-year-old niece Cady in her care.
Having little experience with children and not much of a relationship with Cady to begin with, Gemma struggles to fit her work commitments around her newfound guardian duties. But in a seemingly divine moment of synchronicity, her M3GAN prototype reaches maturity just in time to become Cady’s new best friend.
Sadly, the pressure to market M3GAN leads to corners being cut and as Gemma’s company greedily prepares to sell the toy to every willing customer, the prototype’s intellect grows exponentially and with it, her own understanding of the world, life, death and what’s right and wrong. And after Cady is involved in a series of unfortunately events M3GAN’s interpretation of justice and retribution become clear.
Before long M3GAN is using every trick in her AI book to get what she wants, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.
Killer Toys have been a feature in horror films since the 1920s (if we want to include puppets). The idea of the most innocent and harmless of things turning against us and causing harm troubles our unconscious, particularly when they are the things that we trust with our most valuable and vulnerable family members – our children.
M3GAN takes this concept into a refreshingly modern habitat, set in the not-too-distant future where everything seems familiar and plausible. The film is very reminiscent of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror series with it’s futuristic tech and dark undertones, but writer James Wan expertly adds an element of dark humour to M3GAN which makes it more unique and even more entertaining.
The writing is unexpectedly good. On the surface of it, this is another killer toy/robot movie. But thanks to the time taken to weave a believable story around the obvious elements, plot-holes are few, characters and scenarios are realistic and believable plus the pace is perfect.
The performances match the writing with a great balance being delivered by the cast. The leads, Allison Williams (Gemma) and Violet McGraw (Cady) immerse you in their desperate situation and are as emotive as M3GAN is murderous.
Speaking as a parent, one other stand-out element to the film is just how likely the it would be for such a product to be invented and adopted by millions. In many ways, the surrogacy offered by this android isn’t too far from that which many use phones and tablets for in the real world. It’s a harsh commentary on the direction we’re all headed.
Visually, the film is striking and the effects for M3GAN are a fusion of CGI and live action which works well. Fight sequences are thrilling but very little blood is seen on screen, which is the sign of a good film – if you don’t feel you need it, you’re obviously being satisfied elsewhere.
M3GAN is an unexpectedly entertaining film which deserves to do well in the box office. It’s the sort of film that would appeal to audiences of all ages and tastes. Specifically it should be a hit with generation Z who will appreciate it’s reflection of our progression towards technological symbiosis.
It’s not too scary, not too funny but very captivating and definitely worthy of re-visiting (and dare I say it, a sequel).
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