The design and marketing of "M3GAN" is fantastic while everything else seems not up to par. Instead of an awesome movie about a killer robot doll, it’s a lot of unneeded information that could’ve been left out to make room for more interesting plot.
Synopsis
M3GAN is a life-like doll that's programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's greatest ally. Designed by brilliant roboticist Gemma, M3GAN can watch and learn from their child and adapt to their needs. When Gemma becomes the unexpected caretaker of her 8-year-old niece, she decides to give the girl a M3GAN prototype and this decision leads to unbelievable consequences.
Starring Allison Williams as Gemma and Violet McGraw as Cady. The film is also produced by Blumhouse Productions that is known for horror movies such as "Get Out,“ “Insidious,“ “Paranormal Activity," and many more.
What I loved
It gave peak camp horror at times. From breaking into dance sequences or spontaneous songs at awkward moments, this movie gives comedic energy in fantastic places. I was chuckling at a lot of the movie, but I wish the whole movie was as eccentric as these few timed scenes, especially considering a lot of these moments were in the trailer.
M3GAN looked unreal. Throughout the movie, everyone kept thinking she was a real person because of how realistic the artificial intelligence looked and I would think the same. The design of M3GAN, the voice, the humor, everything works together so well. I wish M3GAN was more like Chucky in ways. Even though this was her film, we dont get a lot of her character development, unlike in Chucky films. Give me two hours of M3GAN doing her thing and I would eat it up.
What I didn't love
The beginning. The movie felt like an hour of information vomit with 40 minutes of action. The run time of the film was one hour and 42 minutes, but it felt like three hours, because it dragged tremendously. I understand wanting to set the stage, but when you do too much, you lose your audience, and this movie's info dumping was too much.
The movie feels original yet overdone and tired at the same time. I was really rooting for this film, but the small laughs I gave didn’t make up for the lack of original and entertaining plot. It’s a commentary on AI and human emotions/relationships that’s been done so many times before, just wrapped up in a shiny bow of a realistic robot doll. I kept waiting for more, but it truly never came.
Verdict
Between the trailer and promotion of this film across all platforms, I expected this film to be amazing and it wasn't. If they would’ve put in any of the energy they showed in previews, talk shows, and across social media, this film could’ve been great. It’s a decent film to watch once, but not worth the ticket price.
I give "M3GAN" a 2.5 out of 10.
