Already, the 2020s have seen an exponential rise in the number of films incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their story. The Creator (2023) debates the morality of weaponizing AI in the form of a child, Brian & Charles (2022) explores how a scrappy AI robot can be used to aid loneliness, Free Guy (2021) breathes AI life into mindless video game NPCs, and, more recently, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) paints a damning, reckless image of AI with villain, The Entity. Given the pace at which AI is evolving, none of these films presents realistic conversations or questions we will have within the next couple of years. Following the first installment in 2023, is the stylish but deadly robot M3GAN capable of achieving what other films couldn’t in Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN 2.0 (2025)?

After her wreaking havoc on creator Gemma (Allison Williams) and paired companion Cady (Violet McGraw), which led to her demise, M3GAN (played by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis) is begrudgingly restored to her former glory after a replication of her named Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno) goes rogue on a stealth mission led by the US military two years later. Being the spearhead of encouraging policy makers to enforce safer laws surrounding the use of technology alongside her fling Christian (Aristotle Athari), Gemma is at risk of being a hypocrite in recreating M3GAN whilst Cady readjusts, yet again, to life without her robot friend.

The most notable difference between M3GAN 2.0 and its precursor is the glaring genre shift. After the first film’s surprisingly massive box office success, Johnstone made the bold decision to abandon the horror genre to create an amalgamation of an action-packed, superhero, heist film under the veil of the science fiction genre. There have been many instances of horror film sequels taking sharp turns in tone, such as the more comedic Evil Dead II (1987) and the more action-filled Aliens (1986). The risk of both these films paid off, being more successful than their predecessors and showing that there is a method to the surface-level madness. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about M3GAN 2.0.

While I am all for a genre shift, what is glaringly absent from the film is the exploration of the connection between M3GAN and Cady. There are many layers of complexity to their relationship due to how deeply they bonded after Cady was grieving from her parents’ deaths, yet the film completely glosses over it with the blanket sentiment that she is programmed to protect Cady and nothing else. What the first film does right is that it understands that the horror elements are amplified when there is emotional depth behind them. In contrast, the newest film’s lack of depth makes the action elements feel shoehorned in. There was a fundamentally glaring hole where the heart of the film should be.

As far as performances go, nothing stood out. Williams struggles to bounce off the flat energy of her costars, especially with her supposed monotone love interest, with whom she has a large amount of screen time. Sakhno’s performance as the stone-cold Amelia worked well as the villainous counterpart to M3GAN, yet there is part of me that wishes we saw more personality instead of this mindless villain that counters the protagonist, something we get oh-so-often in recent blockbusters. What was truly disheartening is that the role of biomechatronics billionaire Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement) was easily the most charismatic and intriguing character of the film, only for him to get the bare minimum of screen time. His punchy, slightly awkward humor was exactly the right type of light-hearted injection that the narrative needed more of. 

Regrettably, the disappointment does not end here. The story came across as preachy and predictable, focusing more on monologue-length exposition dumps than developing its characters meaningfully. Johnstone attempts to juggle too many themes in its two-hour runtime, which ends up being a messy patchwork of leftover fabric found lying around.

That being said, there is just something about the narrative I cannot stop thinking about. Killer robots aside, the aspects of the story that had me gripped were the discussions on the care with which policymakers should be encouraged to take when forming legislation around the use of AI. Currently, we live in a period of time where there are minimal regulations on the use of generative AI, whether that be environmental restrictions, regard for human well-being, or data protection. Gemma brings up all of these concerns with her company, which aims to build technology that puts human safety first, which becomes a central theme of the film. 

Of all the films of this decade, I did not expect M3GAN 2.0 to deliver this compelling and realistic debate. What would have been even better is if it had been fleshed out properly, allowing the audience to sit with it longer and be able to reflect on the direction AI is heading in our society. 

On paper, M3GAN 2.0 should have been as big of a blockbuster hit as the first one, but it falls short in so many key areas. No matter how interesting the AI plot line may be, it does not change the fact that this film was overstimulating and underwhelming, ultimately falling short of making any real impact.

Review Courtesy of Nandita Joshi

Feature Igage Credit to Universal Studios via NBC