M3gan (2022) - Movie Review

What do you get when you take the killer doll sub-genre and run it through ChatGPT?

A fun if forgettable movie.

Let’s discuss.

Let me start by saying, I will pay money to watch any James Wan horror movie.

Are most of them terrible?

Yes, yes they are.

So why do I keep supporting the man? Because he’s willing to take chances and more importantly… he understands the idea of having fun at the movies. He has written, directed, and produced some of the most fun films in our genre. He’s been instrumental in multiple series of films. Now, I’m not a huge fan of the Insidious films—especially the Red Door (what a train wreck), but I respect the fact that he almost singlehandedly kept the horror genre alive with The Conjuring films, the Saw films, and of course my favorite of his movies: Dead Silence.

With that in mind, this might be the most James Wan film ever made.

M3GAN is a 2022 sci-fi horror film brought to us by writers James Wan and Akela Cooper with directing duties handled by Gerard Johnstone.

The film focuses on Gemma, a brilliant mechanical engineer and programmer responsible for the toy of the century with her invention of the Perpetual Pets. The toy is basically a more annoying version of a Furby that have the ability to learn limited functions. Now, that toy is has gone by the wayside and her employer is demanding a new version. Gemma never had any interest in making a new version of her old design. She had spent her entire development budget on a designing a new AI companion for children. It’s an invention that will change the world, but unfortunately her progress is derailed when her sister is killed in a car accident and she’s forced to take custody of her Niece. But when her deadline approaches, she finds that utilizing her niece as a test subject for her invention will speed things along. But problems arise when the AI powered Android decides it knows how to care for Gemma’s niece, and it doesn’t matter how many people need to die for her to complete her mission.

It was hard to sum the movie up because it’s so simple. Simple doesn’t mean bad, but it really doesn’t do anything new. If you’re a horror fan who grew up in the 90s, you’ve seen this movie before. If you’ve seen Man’s Best Friend (1993), Deadly Friend (1986), or Dolls (1987) you’ve seen this movie.

However, this movie has by far the best acting ever featured in this sci-fi / horror / killer doll sub-genre.

Allison Williams is a fantastic actress who has been a standout in the horror genre with starring roles in films like Get Out (2017), The Perfection (2018), and Horizon Line (2020). She’s one of those uniquely beautiful women who Hollywood tends to dress down and masculate, but she’s absolutely gorgeous. She just has a look that twenty years ago would have made her a star on that basis alone. I love that she gets to play the reality of a career driven woman who’s selfish ambition overrides her instinctual maternal instincts until she actually goes through an arc of understanding what it is to love and be loved by another person. It’s really cool to see a female hero who is flawed and has actual character development.

Also, the other lead—Violet McGraw is fantastic. She also undergoes this really fleshed out arc where she almost emulates Gemma’s selfishness the way children do. The emotion you get out of children is often what you put into them. Children naturally will reciprocate the feelings their parents have subconsciously, because they aren’t jaded and compartmentalized wrecks like adults. So in this case, Violet reflects all of the negative aspects of her costar, which leads to both of them coming to a relationship breaking point and the eventual healing.

The moments that Violet McGraw and Allison Williams have together, those few scenes where it’s just them bonding are so well done and real.

Then there’s the freaky doll. I really thought that M3GAN’s special effects couldn’t possibly hold-up over the 102 minute runtime and they don’t, but they hold up well enough to give it a better than passing grade. The doll is unsettling. I mean, it looks like an Olsen Twin with RBF, so an Olsen Twin. The blend of CGI and Practical effects are really well handled. The CGI does have some bad moments, but overall I think with the masterful use of lighting, angles, and atmosphere the monster in the film was successful. More than that, she actually had character. She’s not just a wild and crazy robot. She has motivation, she has ambition, and she’s downright cunning. It’s like an American Girl Doll version of Jason Bourne.

So good special effects, directing, and acting—why am I not over the moon about this movie?

Well, it has the same issue all killer doll movies have (outside of the Childplay Series). It’s one note. There’s really only one thing that is going to happen. The doll is going to go crazy and the doll is eventually going to be destroyed and there’s going to be a stinger where the doll / robot’s consciousness escapes to another medium / body.

Let’s be real, that’s how all of these movies go.

In this case, Hollywood doesn’t have the balls to do an ending like the legendary Mikey from 1992. So there’s really no actual threat to the film’s protagonists. It’s not the fault of the actors, it’s just how this type of plot works within the constraints of Hollywood’s sequel mentality and need to leave everything open to a cinematic universe.

Part of why I loved Dead Silence so much is that is was a standalone movie with no sequel ambitions. It works because the ending wasn’t forced to include a sequel nod or post-credits sequence.

But let me be clear, this isn’t a bad movie. It’s actually super fun. It was a blast to watch with my viewing partner as it’s a perfect movie to chat around. It’s beautiful to look at with stunning visuals and a sharp clean aesthetic.

Honestly, the movie is a pretty good horror movie for a mixed audience. It’s not too gory, it’s not vulgar, and there’s no awkward, shoehorned in sex scene. It’s just a straightforward fun movie.

Checkout M3GAN currently streaming on Prime Video for free.