A grieving child, a robotics engineer, and an android companion with an increasingly mean streak come together in horror hit M3GAN, starring Allison Williams (Get Out) and from the director of Housebound and the co-writer of Malignant.
With the horror-comedy more widely available on streaming, we revisit Daniel Rutledge’s review from the time of M3GAN’s cinema release in January of this year.
With the creepy doll subgenre as a base, a generous helping of the fear of AI in this smart home era, and a sprinkling of sweet, sweet android action on top, M3GAN has hit on a recipe for unexpected success. It’s definitely not perfect but it is a smartly-made serving of campy fun that’s a great way to cinematically kick off the year.
Despite a toning down of the onscreen violence to avoid an R rating in the US and a sometimes goofy vibe, there is some surprisingly heavy shit in this. It’s that sort of twisted feel-good horror that gets laughs through wrongness in between the jump scares. Y’know, the psychology of grief, corporations intentionally spying on children for profit—you could find meaningful commentary if you wanted to, but you’ll probably just dig chuckling along at the winky jokiness directed at serious topics. And don’t let the lack of graphic gore fool you, a few bits of inventive violence won’t be suitable for younger viewers but sure are enjoyably nasty for adults.
There are some great musical cues early on and a unique oddball tone is deftly established quickly, but the film takes time to properly gather itself and is only firing on all cylinders in the second half. Thankfully, sharp writing and solid performances mean it’s engaging throughout, with humour that often hits well, but not always.
M3GAN is also an example of highly efficient filmmaking. Coming out at a time when people are expecting to spend two to three hours with a movie, this skips along for barely over 100 minutes and never feels rushed. It does manage to carefully cram in way more satisfying callbacks than seems possible, but the efficiency reaches an almost comical level with supporting characters Brandon and his mother. Their arc sprints from introduction to their final scene hilariously quickly as a great demonstration of how M3GAN flirts with satire, but never fully leaps into it, which means the slasher bits and more sinister elements still have bite.
While comparisons to the Child’s Play and Annabelle franchises may be unavoidable, I was surprised and stoked to also find traces of RoboCop and The Terminator in there as well. In the third act the titular M3GAN is fully let loose and everything goes delightfully bonkers, but wisely refrains from wallowing in the craziness too long. Then the film is at its very best in the climactic showdown, which I’m looking forward to watching again.
Director Gerard Johnstone is someone I should disclose is an associate—he’s a New Zealander of a similar age so, of course, we’ve met a few times. I really enjoyed his debut feature Housebound and reckon this follow-up is long overdue, but I have a good feeling we won’t be waiting nearly as long for his next. This one has proven an instant success at the international box office and is critically faring strongly too. Rightfully so. Despite a little patchiness in the first half and a few gags that don’t quite land, M3GAN is a devilish romp that will be a blast when seen with the right crowd.
