Cast: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Jen Van Epps, Brian Jordan Alvarez
Screenplay: Akela Cooper, based on the story by James Wan & Akela Cooper
Running Length: 1:42
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, Language)
U.S Release Date: 1-06-23 (Wide)
Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi
When it comes to the first weekend of January, it doesn’t have the greatest reputation for quality releases. It therefore comes as a shock that M3gan is probably one of the best movies to be released during this period in a very long time. That’s not to say that M3gan is a complete success, but it’s far and away better than some of the dreck that usually gets dumped into theaters around this time of year.
The film starts off on a tragic note where, after a deadly car accident involving her sister, Gemma (Allison Williams), a robotics engineer, is given sole custody of her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). Overwhelmed and out of her depth when it comes to child care, Gemma decides to build a prototype of an artificially intelligent doll named M3gan (short for Model 3 Generative Android) who she programs to be Cady’s companion and to protect her from physical and emotional harm. As the two begin to spend time together, everything appears to be going well until it doesn’t.
For a film about an artificially intelligent doll turning homicidal, there’s a surprising amount of social commentary to be found about the dangers of letting technology parent your children and how too much exposure can have serious consequences. In fact, the best scenes are the ones that feature M3gan and Cady bonding and showing how detrimental M3gan becomes to Cady’s mental state of mind as she begins to get too attached. It’s not until the second half that the film really gets into horror territory and we see the bodies start to pile up.
As fun as it is to see M3gan go on a murderous rampage, these scenes prove to be the least interesting aspect of the film. It’s here that the film begins to follow a familiar path that leaves little in the way of surprises (as soon as the film turns in this direction you know exactly how the rest of the story is going to play out beat by beat). There’s also not much in terms of scares, and the movie is never more than mildly unsettling. It’s only thanks to M3gan’s appearance that the film manages to even be slightly creepy. The comedic moments don’t do the film any favors either. Taken individually, these scenes are funny (the hallway dance that’s been featured in a lot of the trailers comes to mind), but they often clash with the more serious material (that of a child trying to cope with the loss of her parents). Had these moments been better balanced, it could have worked, but they come off as silly and limit the effectiveness of the horror elements.
Despite the missteps, part of me almost wants to recommend this movie. There’s not much here in terms of originality (the comparisons to Chucky and even The Terminator are warranted), but the questions it poses in the science-heavy first half give it some depth that you don’t normally see in a lot of January PG-13 horror movies. Solid performances along with M3gan’s unique and memorable look also help elevate it above the usual entries in that category. If only the tonal changes weren’t so jarring and the second half was as strong as the first, then maybe I would have been more enthusiastic in its praise. The best thing that I can say is that M3gan is never boring and it at least tries to aim higher in its goals than most new releases in January, and sometimes, that’s all one can ask for this time of year.
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