M3GAN 2.0 Review: An AI Robotics Horror Turned 'Spy Kids' Movie

Hype Malaysia

21 hours ago

The sci-fi horror genre of how AI will be taking over the world has now become a common trope in movies, playing into the fear factor that the computing systems we use might grow to have their own consciousness. Yes, it's scary and downright creepy; however, how well could you portray a killer robot to have as much character development as an actual human?
After its success in 2023 with its first movie, M3GAN returns to the box office with a big character development in her system. From a horror murder bot to a turned empathetic spy bot, M3GAN 2.0 follows the revival of the sensational Megan, but this time, she's not out for blood. Written and directed by Gerard Johnstone, the returning cast includes Violet McGraw, Allison Williams, Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps are joined by Aristotle Athari, Timm Sharp and Jemaine Clement.
Two years after going rogue and embarking on a murderous rampage to protect Cady (Violet McGraw), and was later destroyed, M3GAN's creator, Gemma (Allison Williams), has become a successful author and an advocate for government oversight of AI. Without their knowledge, the core technology behind M3GAN has been stolen and repurposed by a powerful defence contractor to create AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a deadly, high-tech infiltration weapon. However, as AMELIA gains self-awareness, she begins to rebel, losing interest in following human commands or even preserving human life at all.
With humanity's survival at stake, Gemma realises she has only one choice: bring M3GAN (Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) back online and equip her with major upgrades to make her faster, stronger, and more dangerous than ever. Now, as these two advanced A.I.s face off, the original tech terror is about to face her most formidable rival yet.
Yes, AI is here, and it's out to get you. But shaking off its camp-like quality, M3GAN 2.0 adopts a more empathetic nature, as though she had a system reboot after her destruction, and she installed a character development code in her system. We have to admit, what pulled viewers in from its predecessor was its play on the fear factor of rampaging demon robots who always know your next move. We get glimpses of that in its second edition, but what started as a play on horror turned upside down to what seems more like a 'Spy Kids' movie than anything.
If you're looking for the original horror trope, don't be surprised since you won't find it here. M3GAN 2.0 plays heavily on its character development trope, where our protagonists learns that free will comes with great responsibility. Yes, our demonic conscious robot has softened up around the edges, but is that necessarily bad for the plot? Not really, as the direction brings forth a new direction on where the plot may expand to, rather than confining it to the premise of M3GAN wanting to kill everyone around her, she might just be one heck of a weapon to save the world.
But is it refreshing and new? Probably not, as we're greeted by a plot that we've seen time and time again in any sci-fi action thriller out there. While the fighting scenes and sarcastic comebacks prove to be the highlight of entertainment for the movie, that's where it ends to keep viewers on the edge of their seats, since its plot has nothing of interest to bring forward the unique factor of what could be the next ground-breaking box office hit.
The film displayed some amazing graphics with a full-fledged robotics fighting scene straight out of a game. The gags are quite funny, but with how the plot was stylised, it almost felt like a kids' movie, but with some blood splatters here and there. What differs from this movie is that the directors seem to have wanted to open up the film for a bigger set of audience, which was to minus the gore and horror completely from the movie. Not the best take when you introduced M3GAN as a demonic, on all fours running towards you in the woods type beat character.
We do catch glimpses of its original horror feel when M3GAN tries to reach out to Cody by waking him up in the middle of the night by letting him know that she 'sees him', playing on the comedy factor of how our devices can track us wherever we are. There are a handful of moments which we found to have maintained their outright absurdity of the first movie, such as M3GAN literally dancing posed as a robot, her sarcastic comebacks (she's become chattier than ever) and M3GAN soothing Gemma by singing Kate Bush's 'This Woman's Work'.
Overall, M3GAN 2.0 is amusing at times and morale-boosting at others. It's a new concept from what was introduced as a horror sci-fi, which has many rooms for improvement in retaining its viewership with its new plot line. It's amusing and could borderline on 'Spy Kids', but a great sit-at-home movie when you've got nothing else to stream.
Watch the trailer here:
M3GAN 2.0 premieres globally in cinemas tomorrow (27th July 2025)
Alyssa Gabrielle contributed to this article.
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