Directed by: Gerard Johnstone
Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ivanna Sakhno, Jemaine Clement, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis

M3GAN (2022), the sleeper sci-fi-horror hit, unsurprisingly spawns a sequel that is implied to be an upgrade in M3GAN 2.0. Sporting the same creative team from its predecessor (Johnstone, Akeela Cooper, James Wan, and Jason Blum) and returning cast/characters, 2.0 takes up where it left off after the harrowing events of the first movie.

With the trauma of M3GAN seemingly behind them, Gemma (Williams) has turned into AI cautionary activist while Cady (McGraw), now in her teens, is a budding programmer herself, much to Gemma’s vexation. But as the opener not so subtly suggests, a new threat is upon them in the form of AMELIA, a military generative android whose programming is based on M3GAN’s technology. Like M3GAN, AMELIA has turned autonomous and rogue, killing everything in its path for still unknown reasons. Desperate for survival, Gemma and her colleagues must decide whether to revive M3GAN or face the deadly AMELIA on their own.

M3GAN 2.0 adopts the blueprint of the first 2 chapters of James Cameron’s The Terminator, with 2.0 as T2: Judgement Day. Both sequels make a clever pivot from sci-fi horror to sci-fi action, and with a shameless filling of cheeky humor to boot. While not quite an upgrade per se, 2.0’s shift to all-out action feels logical and even unexpected at first. And it’s actually quite fun as well, but diehard fans might miss the horror elements of the first movie, and understandably so. At its best, M3GAN 2.0 is stylish and campy. At its worst, 2.0 devolves into an updated Spy Kids episode; a good one, though, subject to taste.

As for the cast, Williams and McGraw are solid, with their characters seamlessly transitioning from the first movie to the next. But that’s not really asking a lot. In other words, the parts fit well, just like the new chip onto the old motherboard. That’s likely a byproduct of having the same creative team tackle the new direction. Same ingredients but different vibe.

M3GAN 2.0 succeeds in taking a logical path to the next stage, but in doing so, some things get left behind. The ghost of Wes Craven that haunted the first film has all but evaporated in 2.0. Depending on your point of view and perhaps in hindsight, that is a total negative. But I enjoyed this movie simply because I needed a momentary reprieve from the horrors of AI that are much discussed in our culture today. Also, I didn’t expect the filmmakers to move on from what made the first one compelling and entertaining.

Whether you enjoy this movie or not will depend on your mindset, as it’s both good and lacking. That said, M3GAN as a franchise character is intriguing and may get another chance depending on 2.0’s box office return. However, this reviewer hopes the filmmakers return M3GAN to its horror roots, and let’s hope it’s mostly good.

So have you seen MEGAN 2.0? Well, what do you think?

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