M3gan Review: A Blend of Drama and Thrills with Social Commentary
M3gan opens with Cady, played by Violet Mcgraw (The Haunting of Hill House 2018 series) who is out driving with her parents when a terrible car crash occurs. She wakes up only to come to the realization that both her parents are dead. The only one left to care for her is her Aunt Gemma, played by Allison Williams (Get Out, Girls). Gemma is a brilliant robotics engineer but unfortunately not a good mother figure for Cady. Gemma doesn’t understand Cady’s emotional needs as she is absorbed in her new project for work.
Gemma is the creator of a creepy looking toy line called Petz for the toy company Funki. Petz are basically a bastard child of the real life Furby toy, but they look creepy as shit with these nasty gleaming teeth. Gemma’s boss David played by Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians) is under pressure because another toy company has created a cheaper alternative to their Petz line. Chieng plays a great role as a snarky prick of a boss, demanding and pushing his staff to be the biggest and best toy company.
After a rough and rather unsuccessful unveiling of her new lifelike doll project, Gemma refuses to give up despite warnings from her boss David. Gemma pretty much neglects Cady while spending countless hours rebuilding her latest project. Cady is used in a demonstration to wow investors socks off. The lifelike friend robot named M3gan which stands for Model 3 Generative Android is paired with Cady as her soulmate. M3gan caters to Cady’s every whim emotionally and physically. Obviously, it’s easier for Gemma to create a robot to spend time for a child than to actually spend quality time with her niece.
M3gan starts to get wise to her programming and becomes self-aware. She also begins to exact revenge for Cady when she is harmed. Soon M3gan becomes Cady’s obsession and M3gan her sadistic keeper. M3gan turns off her programming and savagely turns on her creators.
M3gan could have been a more effective R-rated feature but it was supposedly cut for a PG-13 rating. I am told there is an unrated version available, but I haven’t seen it around. One particular double kill using a laminate cutter blade on two victims in an elevator had some great potential, but it was virtually subdued in delivery.
M3gan was voiced by Jenna Davis and all physical movements the doll couldn’t perform were done by Amie Donald who also did her own stunts. James Wan (director of Saw, Malignant, and The Conjuring) co-wrote the film. Blumhouse get a bad rap for releasing watered down modern horror and M3gan is basically a bunch of other films put together such as Childs Play and Deadly Friend, to name a couple. That being said M3gan was a decent enough and fairly entertaining watch for myself and my 11-year-old son who wanted to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised with it.
M3gan is more on the drama/thriller spectrum than horror. I enjoyed the satire and social commentary it delivered, specifically the whole consumerism toy craze, lack of human and social interaction, and the role of technology as our saviour and downfall.
AKA: M3Qan, М3ган, 梅根, 人工殺姬, M3gan/ミーガン, Megan, М3ҐАН, МЕҐАН, Don’t Meet M3gan
Directed by: Gerard Johnstone
Written by: Akela Cooper, Akela Cooper, James Wan
Produced by: Jason Blum, Jennifer Scudder Trent, Luke Sharpe, James Wan
Cinematography by: Peter McCaffrey
Editing by: Jeff McEvoy
Music by: Anthony Willis
Special Effects by: Morot FX, Weta Workshop, Fin Design & Effects, Fathom, Masters of Reality, Bunker Media
Cast: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Brian Jordan Alvarez
Year: 2022
Country: New Zealand, USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 42min
Studio: Blumhouse Productions, Atomic Monster, Divide/Conquer, New Zealand Film Commission
Distributor: Universal Pictures