M3GAN review

M3GAN: 

FUN, CAMPY HORROR-COMEDY THAT’S SURPRISINGLY CLEVER AND RELEVANT! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

The titular doll of terror gives Chucky a run for his money in M3GAN

 

            A doll with artificial intelligence goes horribly wrong in M3GAN, the new horror-comedy film produced by Jason Blum (Get Out, Happy Death Day 1 and 2, The Invisible Man (2020)) and James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring 1 and 2, Malignant) with Gerald Johnstone in his directorial debut. The film is based on an idea from Wan and screenwriter Akela Cooper (Hell Fest, Malignant, The Nun 2) that differs quite a bit from Wan’s previous films about killer dolls, most notably the Conjuring and Annabelle movies. 

            This one serves as a commentary on embracing technology too much and what happens when technology runs amok. A lot more relevant and thought-provoking than something like Chucky for example. 

            I was intrigued when I first heard about the film, it sounded like Steven Spielberg’s A.I. if it was (intentionally) terrifying or an unofficial prequel to Ex-Machina. Granted, I was slightly turned-off by the PG-13 rating because I find horror and PG-13 don’t usually go together with some exceptions…this is one of those exceptions! 

            This is a very fun movie that blends campy horror with tongue-in-cheek humor as well as a timely message about the over-reliance on technology that fits perfectly with today’s society. I knew I was in for a good time once the movie started with a Tropic Thunder-style fake toy commercial for a product called PurrPetual Petz that had me laughing hard and thinking back to seeing commercials like that on TV all the time as a child. 

            The film follows Gemma (Allison Williams-Girls, Get Out, The Perfection), a roboticist at a technologically advanced toy company in Seattle known as Funki who takes in her niece Cady (Violet McGraw-Love, Ready Player One, The Haunting of Hill House) after her parents were tragically killed in a car accident. Gemma introduces Cady to her most game-changing project, a life-size doll with artificial intelligence known as M3GAN who is designed to be the perfect companion for the child that is synced-up with her, Cady in this case. 

            At first everything seems fine, but then M3GAN begins to develop self-awareness and becomes hostile to anyone who comes between her and Cady. A series of horrific events start occurring with Gemma and Cady being the only ones who can stop M3GAN’s reign of terror before she goes public. 

            The film also stars Brian Jordan Alvarez (Will and Grace, Jane the Virgin, Get Shorty (TV series)) as Cole, Ronny Chieng (The Daily Show, Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) as David Lin, and Lori Dungey (Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) as Celia. 

            Overall, M3GAN is a thoroughly entertaining film that seamlessly blends horror and comedy without shying away from engaging characters and clever storytelling. Honestly, I think I had more fun with this than most of the big blockbusters I saw last year. 

            I feel like this is what the 2019 Child’s Play was trying to do (Which I thought was fun, but pretty disposable when I saw it) as that was basically an updated and more high-tech version of Chucky but lacked the character’s personality. That is not the case with M3GAN because despite essentially being a robot, she does develop a personality and clear character over the course of the film while interacting with Gemma and Cady, and by the end she becomes a straight-up intimidating horror villain that puts Chucky and Annabelle to shame. 

            The film also explores the psychological effects of having a toy like this and becoming overly attached to it which I found incredibly fascinating. Where M3GAN becomes more possessive and violent as the film progresses, Cady starts off as a genuinely sympathetic kid just trying to adapt to this new living situation after the death of her parents, but when this new tech comes into her life, she becomes overly dependent on and addicted to it, her social skills start diminishing, and gets aggressive and downright crazy, all of this feels very natural and makes you wonder “What would you do in Caty’s situation?”. 

            I also found myself growing attached to Allison Williams’ Gemma which can be best described as a complete reversal of her Get Out performance. We’ve seen this trope in films before where an estranged family member has to take care of a child and feels unfit or unprepared for the responsibility, but she plays it quite well and has plenty of standout moments. 

            The film also did a great job at throwing me for a curveball when Caty’s therapist was introduced because once she showed up I kept thinking “Oh great, there’s going to be a situation where she forces Gemma to give Caty up to go live with family on her father’s side, but Caty doesn’t want to leave!” which does not happen, and I commend M3GANfor not going that route. 

            The effects on the M3GAN character are incredible and almost Ex-Machina level, she was created with a mixture of animatronics, puppetry, an actress in a costume, and CGI when necessary, and she looks very convincing. To the point where I was constantly guessing if I was looking at an animatronic robot doll or CG which rarely happens to me nowadays in film (Just look at Marvel CGI and you’ll know what I mean) so it’s refreshing to see a major Hollywood production utilizing CGI mixed with practical effects again just like in the days of Jurassic Park. 

            With that said, I felt the climax was pretty generic (Aside from a sequence involving another robot) where now M3GAN is saying stock horror movie villain dialogue and it hits a lot of similar beats as other climaxes involving killer robots/toys, but I was having such a great time with the rest of the movie that it didn’t really matter to me. I also wasn’t a big fan of the way it ended and just felt like a last-minute sequel bait slapped on if it becomes a big hit (Which it apparently is), 

            M3GAN was a very pleasant surprise that exceeded my expectations in just about every way. It’s an effective mix of campy horror, tongue-in-cheek humor, timely social commentary, and strong characters, it’ll terrify you, make you laugh, and you’ll be invested all the way through.