Harry Situation Reviews: M3GAN
2023 is kicking off to a good start so far...
The first film to review for the new year is none other than M3GAN. M3GAN is the latest science fiction horror thriller produced by James Wan and directed by Gerard Johnstone.
The story centers a young girl who becomes orphaned when her parents were killed in a car accident during their vacation. She is placed under the care of her aunt (played by Allison Williams), a roboticist for a toy company. Having a hard time trying to connect with her niece, she builds a life-like doll with an artificial intelligence called M3GAN. The girl and M3GAN bond well. Perhaps too well when M3GAN starts to become self-aware and becomes hostile towards anyone that comes between her and her companion.
So first positive obviously goes to the titular robotic nightmare herself, M3GAN (or Model 3 Generation). There's something about robots with that uncanny valley look that utterly creeps me out, and M3GAN is no exception. She's super creepy, but what she does throughout the whole movie is hilarious. I mean, there are moments where she is singing to her ways of trying to kill people. And let's not forget that dance sequence that constantly appears in promos. M3GAN is an absolute riot.
The performances are great too. Everyone does a solid job of selling the idea that this could potentially be a thing in the real world, no matter how hilarious or creepy it looks.
What I think makes the film work is how it explores the theme of human connection. It's a scary thought to allow people, at least children, to be so connected to technology. When the girl gets connected with M3GAN, that's all she devotes her time with. She sees her as a person rather than a machine. At first, you, along with the aunt, are fooled to believe that there's nothing wrong with that. But then you see that she interacts with no one else but M3GAN, not even her aunt. Think about it. We're pretty close to doing this to our own children, having them rely so much on technology as a form of comfort and shutting out everyone in the world in order to help them face their problems.
The only issues I have with the movie is that I feel like that the runtime could have been cut down by at least fifteen minutes. There were a couple moments during the climax where I thought this was where they were going to end it only for it to turn out to be a fake out scare.
Also, I think this movie could have benefited with an R-rating. Despite M3GAN seemingly looking like a movie about a killer robot doll there really isn't a lot of kills in this movie. I know, it was kind of shocking, and a bummer. Think what they could really show off with an R-rating. I bet the kills would be a lot more memorable. I'm sure it was an executive choice to make the movie PG-13 to appeal to a wider audience. However, if an R-rated cut exists, I'd definitely want to check it out.
Overall, M3GAN is really just dumb fun. I found the movie to be stupid but an enjoyable watch. I think even the writers and producers realize how ridiculous the concept is and they have fun with it.
Positives:
-M3GAN
-Performances
-Theme of human connection
-Stupidly fun
Negatives:
-Runtime could be cut down
-PG-13 rating
Final Grade: B-
So those are my thoughts on M3GAN. Have you seen it? What were your thoughts on it? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews here on Prose!
Best Quote:
David Lin: "This is gonna punch Hasbro in the dick."
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