M3GAN 2.0

M3ganomaniac

M3GAN 2.0
aka Mthreegan Two Point Zero
Directed by Gerard Johnstone
USA/Canada/New Zealand 2025
Universal/Blumhouse

Warning: Some pretty big tonal spoilerage here. 

Like many people, I quite enjoyed the first M3GAN movie (reviewed here) but, even though it was clearly left open for a sequel, I was kinda worried it would just end up being a rehash of the first. Especially since it was green lit so quickly after the popularity of the first movie (within two weeks of release I believe). My fears seemed justified when it came to the trailers for this new installment in the franchise, M3GAN 2.0, because it looked pretty awful and like it was going to fall exactly into that same writing trap. 

Not often has a trailer been so misleading and, I suspect, it was cut like that deliberately, to keep the expectations of the audience from the first movie on board with the sequel. In fact, from what I could make out, some of the trailer was even manipulated to give it a different vibe to what the movie is, with one line of dialogue coming from a totally different version of a specific character, for example... and certain other lines not making it into the movie at all. Marvel do this kind of thing all the time these days and the trailer looks like it was clearly shaped to withhold certain information about specific scenes.

Okay, so the surviving cast of characters from the last movie are all back... with Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps... and, of course, Amie Donald and Jenna Davis as the body and voice of M3GAN respectively. We also have a new threat... not just to those characters but, to the entire world, in the form of a kind of adult version of the titular character called Amelia, played really wonderfully by Ivanna Sakhno. And the fact that she is... not quite the villain but certainly working against M3GAN and her human companions (if you want to call them that)... certainly changes the dynamic of the picture.

Here’s the thing... this film is not just a rehash of the first movie on steroids. I mean, sure, M3GAN does have a totally killer dance sequence and she even gets to sing a song (this time it’s a cover version of the truly beautiful Kate Bush song This Woman’s Work) to hit some of the right tonal notes with fans of the first. But this is very different, for sure. The first movie was a sci-fi tinged horror film and, while there is still the tension of the ‘will she, wont she turn against us all again’ variety, when it comes to the title character...this movie goes full on into a sci-fi tinged action adventure yarn. And by that I mean it leans full on into the action which reminded me of nothing less than the Mission Impossible franchise in a lot of sequences (it even has a planned heist sequence at one point). That being said, the violence gets pretty gory in this movie, with impalements and arm ripping just for starters.

Now, the one bad thing about the movie is... when it comes to the identity of the real villain of the piece, well... I’m sure most audiences, like me, would have figured it out in the first 20 minutes of the movie, with the expected twist reveal itself held until the third act, so to speak. However, lack of surprises aside, it’s still all executed pretty well and I have to forgive it that blatant telegraphing.

There are some wonderful quirky bits to this too. For example, when the conciousness of M3GAN hops into a really nice car, the soundtrack goes into the theme from the old David Hasselhoff TV show Knight Rider. And one of the murders committed by the assassin Amelia is a clever, modern, cyberpunk twist on the serial killer murders in Michael Powell’s 1960s career killing movie Peeping Tom.

But yeah, this one goes full on with the action sequences and, contrary to the atmosphere in the first movie, you will probably find yourself rooting for M3GAN by the end of the tale, I would think. An ending which, of course, sets things up for the possibility of another sequel.

So I think that’s me done with M3GAN 2.0 and, I have to say I really liked it... more so even than the first one. And I especially liked the ‘Allison Williams unconscious in an exo-skeleton’ fight scene, which reminded me more than just a little of the fight sequences at the end of the excellent Malignant from 2021 (reviewed here) but, I can’t tell you why. That’s one spoiler too far, I think. But, yeah, this one feels like a M3GAN meets Charlie’s Angels mash up and, I was certainly here for it. Roll on part 3.0 is what I say.