M3GAN 2.0 (United States | 2025 | 119 minutes | Gerard Johnstone)
Kudos to recent horror franchises for changing stuff up. 28 Years Later expanded its siege-horror foundation by steering it into the realm of post-apocalyptic dark fairy tale. M3GAN 2.0, by contrast, doesn’t so much radically depart from its predecessor as significantly shift the emphasis of the genres it combines.
The original M3GAN sits squarely in the realm of the horror film, with undercurrents of sci-fi and black comedy, and M3GAN 2.0 does dutifully serve up the odd jump scare and some well-engineered suspense. This time out, however, director Gerard Johnstone’s decided to construct a sci-fi action comedy, with a few (very few) nods to horror. And for most of its run time, the tonal about-face works.
M3GAN 2.0 picks up with Gemma (Allison Williams), protagonist of the first movie, now working the lecture circuit as a responsible-AI advocate in the wake of her robot creation M3gan’s disastrous homicidal rampage. Gemma remains an iffy guardian to her now legally-adopted niece Cady (Violet McGraw), but parental speed bumps look to be the least of their problems. M3gan, it seems, has somehow survived her destruction in the original, and soon Gemma’s weighing whether to create a new body for the disembodied M3gan so the android can take on AMELIA (Ivana Sakhno), an even more lethal military cyborg who’s gone rogue and threatens to destroy humanity as we know it.
If you’re pining for the inherent creepiness of M3GAN, or were hoping that this follow-up would realize the promising breadcrumbs of social commentary the first one laid out, prepare for those expectations to be given a factory reset. The US Military’s morally-dubious acquisition of advanced technology, Gemma’s and Cady’s sometimes-fraught dynamic, and any examination of the clear dangers of unchecked AI exist to tee up a big, loud, stupid summer action comedy.
Fortunately, it’s a pretty entertaining big, loud, stupid summer action comedy. The movie goes to town with referential nods to Terminator 2, The Mission: Imposssible franchise, and loads more. And the entire cast gets—and fully commits to—the bit. Williams gets to have a few decidedly comic moments, and she remains likable even as she displays some straight-up crappy parenting skills.
Returning second-bananas Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen van Epps) remain fun foils. And Jemaine Clement steals the movie wholesale in his brief turn as the most hilariously deluded and venal tech CEO this side of, well, any of ‘em. The strange combination of innocence and snarky wit that forms M3gan the character’s DNA is pushed to the maximum here: she’s a perkier, cleverer version of Child’s Play heavy Chucky, and that dichotomy—killer android as perky bestie—continues to yield belly laughs.
Your mileage may vary with M3gan 2.0. Between its 1 hour and 59-minute running time (elephantine by horror-flick standards) and the hyper-caffeinated, unabashedly silly final reel, it kinda feels like too much of a good thing by the time the credits roll. Some of the bits embedded here also rocket straight past fun and squarely into the sphere of teeth-gritting irritation.
Then again, the preview audience took to M3GAN 2.0 like an army of ducks to water, and Johnstone’s engineered the kind of popcorn movie that plays like gangbusters for a crowded theater. In this devalued world, a filmmaker—and you—could do a lot worse.
M3GAN 2.0 opens nationwide on June 27.
Image courtesy Blumhouse Films.