M3gan 2.0
Two years after her robot doll went murderously rogue and was destroyed, Gemma (Allison Williams, TV's 'Girls,' "M3gan") has become an activist for AI oversight along with her new partner Christian (former SNLer Aristotle Athari). But when Amelia (Ivanno Sakhno), a military killer infiltration spy robot created by a dubious defense contractor based on M3gan's stolen technology begins to mimic her predecessor's behavior on a far bigger scale, killing Elon Musk-esque tech guru Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement) and taking over his servers in a bid to destroy the humans who thought to control her, Gemma is forced to combat it by developing "M3gan 2.0."
Laura's Review: B-
Writer/director Gerard Johnstone ("M3gan") ups the ante, seizing on the current controversies swirling around AI for a movie with higher stakes, a larger body count and more laughs. "M3gan 2.0" is summer pop culture popcorn and the rare sequel willing to go someplace new, even if it takes a little too long doing so.
Gemma still hasn't found the sweet spot with her now fourteen year-old niece Cady (Violet McGraw, "M3gan"), bucking against her aunt's technology restrictions (when asked what she'd like to study, Cady replies 'computer science' while Gemma suggests a soccer scholarship). When Gemma is late to a demonstration of her start-up's new exoskeleton (she refuses a GPS suggestion while driving, not wishing to give in to an algorithm), a device designed to help humans compete with robots in the work force, Tess (Jen Van Epps, "M3gan") and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez, TV's 'English Teacher') are exasperated. Then Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement) arrives, smugly interrupting everything to take a videocall on a screen only he can see courtesy of his neuro implant, offering Gemma a large check which she quickly and emphatically turns down. But when the F.B.I. invades her home in the middle of the night, suspecting her of having sold M3gan's schematics, the house fights back and once they leave, Gemma discovers M3gan (Amie Donald, voice of Jenna Davis, both returning from "M3gan") never left, her software embedded in the house. It is M3gan who tells her she suspects Amelia may be after the original AI motherboard, kept in secret by the photocopier company, Zenox, where it wrecked havoc back in the 1980's.
And so we have conflicts set up between Gemma and her co-workers, who find her less than democratic; Gemma and her niece, who is more willing to give M3gan a second chance; Gemma and M3gan, who eventually wins her over; Gemma and the F.B.I., who continue to track her down and Amelia against everybody once she fails to recruit M3gan to her cause. Hand-to-hand combat, car chases, explosions and firearms are all baked into the mix along with technological threats and stopgaps. And, of course, there is a dance, one which M3gan performs for a high tech crowd, blowing her cover with her unabashed enthusiasm. If Johnstone's screenplay elides over inconveniences, like how software could build a secret bunker, his banter is often humorous and he gets a special commendation for getting rounds of laughter out of a Kate Bush song and the return of MS Office '97's virtual assistant Clippy. As we hear more and more about AI's resistance to control in the real world, it goes without saying that that aspect of his story works, although the person behind Amelia is too easily identified and their motivations muddy.
Williams and McGraw are the straightmen here, Williams' stuntperson too obviously obscured. Alvarez is the bumbler, providing comic relief while Clement's smug Musk parody is spot on. Athari's pointed pronunciation of his name (Christian like the female version, Christianne) is the fussy character trait that is more than enough to explain why no one thinks him Gemma's type. The striking Sakhno has robotic physicality, her look modeled on "Metropolis's" Maria in her natural state. Donald and Davis join forces to create the lethal dancing doll ('make me taller') with the sweet voice.
"M3gan 2.0" leaves the door open for more and if Johnstone can lean into the technologies controversies with a new angle, another might just be welcome.
Universal Pictures releases "M3gan 2.0" in theaters on 6/27/25.
