M3GAN 2.0: Can she save the world? Photo / Supplied
M3GAN 2.0: Can she save the world? Photo / Supplied
M3GAN 2.0, directed by Gerard Johnstone, is in cinemas now.
Kiwi director Gerard Johnstone’s 2022 worldwide horror hit, M3GAN,might have capitalised on fear of Artificial Intelligence, but it was a dance routine by Auckland youngster Amie Donald playing the titular Robo-Barbie villain that became its viral, defining moment.
Bythe end of that film, the nefarious M3GAN (“Model 3 Generative Android”), an AI “toy” designed as an emotional support doll by tech engineer Gemma (Allison Williams) for her orphaned niece Cady, had been decommissioned after going rogue and murderous.
But just as they could never kill Chucky in the Child’s Play movies, this sequel reanimates M3GAN (Donald again, with voice by Jenna Davis) – this time, à la Terminator 2, in the hope that the baddie from the first film can save the world.
Once again shot in Auckland by Johnstone, M3GAN 2.0 sees Gemma and Cady (Violet McGraw) attempting to live peacefully in their smart home.
When masked men break in one night, an awesome security system protects its residents in a scene which briefly makes you think maybe an AI-controlled life isn’t so bad. Until it’s revealed that someone has created a humanoid military robot named Amelia, which is attempting an AI takeover of the world.
Williams is great as the earnest Gemma in this lightly funny and intelligent exploration of what could really go wrong if AI turned sentient. It’s eons better than Mission: Impossible’s handling of “The Entity”, with returning writers Akela Cooper and James Wan delivering a cleverly plausible horror, helped by Jemaine Clement’s amusing turn as tech billionaire “Alton Appleton”.
It is, however, rather too wordy, and lovers of the bloodier original may wish for less talk, more action, though there is some dancing.
