In 2022, riding on the back of a viral trailer clip and simmering fears about AI, the original M3GAN became a surprise hit, more than doubling its $12 million budget over its US/Canada opening weekend alone. Filmed largely in NZ, and directed by Invercargill’s own Gerard Johnstone, it was a smart, slick update of the Child’s Play blend of horror and comedy, and ended up taking in over $180 million worldwide. Naturally a sequel was announced almost immediately, but M3GAN 2.0 is more than simply an attempt to recapture profitable lightning in a bottle.
To quickly bring you up to speed: robotics engineer Gemma (Alison Williams), finds herself forced into the role of surrogate mother to her niece Cady (Violet McGraw). Finding actual human connection uncomfortable, she creates M3GAN, a doll-like android companion, to become Cady’s friend and protector. You can probably see where this is going, but watch it anyway, it’s a lot of fun.
Two years later, Gemma and Cady are each tackling the fallout from M3GAN’s mayhem in different ways; Gemma has become an outspoken critic of children’s exposure to technology, while Cady sits through counselling sessions with one eye on following her aunt’s previous path into robotics. Don’t get too bogged down in the details, it doesn’t really matter once a new, militarised android, acronym-ed AMELIA and built using the same code they thought they’d dealt with last time, turns up. It all inevitably leads to the reemergence (can you say “resurrection” about an android?) of M3GAN herself…but is she back as hero or villain?
What follows is a pretty sharp departure from the original. Rather than horror, this film is firmly in action/adventure territory, as the returning cast of Gemma, Cady and their tech genius sidekicks Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Epps) come up against the upgraded threat AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno) and the obligatory creepy tech billionaire, played here with unashamedly scenery-chewing relish by Jemaine Clement. M3GAN herself is brought to life by a hybrid performance featuring the physical contortions of young Kiwi dancer/actress Amie Donald, voice actor Jenna Davis, animatronic wizardry and assumedly a splash of CGI.
The advance screening I attended was prefaced by a video introduction from the director, who was at pains to tell us “…this isn’t a big budget movie, but it looks like one.” He’s absolutely right, and rightfully proud of it. Shot in Auckland, (although posing as various Bay Area, California locations) he makes the city look terrific, turning recognisable locations like Spark Arena and the Manawa Bay shopping centre into high-tech stages for high-octane action. He makes the most of his interior locations, too, with a fight that turns a smart home into a weapon playing out like a winking update to Home Alone.
There are plenty of other influences on display; AMELIA could have stepped straight out of one of the Terminator sequels, and a wingsuit incursion into a secure location could have been lifted from a Mission: Impossible or James Bond flick, but a personal favourite was the outright hat tip to 80’s classic and AI forebear Knight Rider as prelude to a car chase.
The biggest, and most surprising, strength of the original movie was its genuinely clever script. Thankfully, the sequel’s change of direction and bump in budget haven’t changed that. This time around, Johnstone has taken over screenplay duties from original writer Akela Cooper, (who is still credited as co-writing the story here). Perhaps his biggest achievement is managing to make a plot about the dangers of an overwhelmingly powerful AI even remotely comprehensible. It’s not an easy task, as the last two Mission: Impossible films made agonisingly clear. It’s a wonderful script, full of laugh-out-loud lines (and even a musical interlude that I won’t even attempt to explain), but there are about 15 minutes too much of it, and tightening up some of the lulls before the next action set piece wouldn’t have gone astray.
M3GAN 2.0 manages to change up the formula that made the original a hit, while retaining its fundamental intelligence. It’s a brave move for a sequel, and while it doesn’t redefine any genres, or really even try to do anything particularly original, there are a lot worse ways to spend your popcorn money this winter. Gerard Johnstone is a name to watch, as I predict it won’t be long until he gets that big budget, and does something pretty spectacular with it.