From the producer of Annabelle, this Blumhouse production is a horror film centered around a life-sized robot doll turned evil.
M3GAN follows the story of Gemma, a single, career-focused Roboticist who unexpectedly becomes the main caretaker for her niece Cady after a tragic accident. Gemma designs M3GAN, a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.
Though teased as a horror, I found it a struggle to categorise the film into one genre. While there were some elements of suspense, these scenes really finished before you had enough time to be scared. Then, there were moments of humour that I couldn’t quite make out if they were intentional, or just poorly written lines.
The movie started off slow, and while I felt they found a nice pace in the middle, the ending felt incredibly rushed. It felt as though they forgot to leave enough time for the final scene, realised they had gone over and had to squish in an ending.
There seemed to be a missed opportunity with the storyline of Gemma and Cady’s characters. You saw no real development in the individuals or their bond with one another until the final scene. The lack of depth in their relationship contributed to the film feeling slightly juvenile.
However, while the film had its obvious faults, overall, I did actually find it quite enjoyable. If I had gone into it unaware of who had directed it, I don’t think I would have left disappointed. If you take it at face value, it’s a fairly light-hearted watch. It just wasn’t quite the masterpiece that I was expecting from a name like James Wan.
M3GAN is in cinemas now.
