The Fantasy Review‘s review of M3GAN (2022).
M3GAN (2022) is a movie that looks awesome, has a great premise, the casting is fantastic, but the story lets it down.
This movie looks like it wants to be a horror film but can’t live up to its potential because of a low age rating. Sure, there are a few kills, but plenty off screen and none that are either scary or entertaining.
Despite the complex themes and questions posed by the narrative in M3GAN, the effort is wasted on a target audience who, in general, won’t seek to explore the heavier ideas with the movie.
This makes it feel like the writers had one idea, and someone higher up just went, “alright, but make it TikTok-friendly” which completely ruined it.
I didn’t hate M3GAN, however. The writing was superb, with complex depictions of grief, parenthood/guardianship, and artificial intelligence.
These themes hooked me throughout the movie, and they lead into a satisfying resolution.
The best way to watch M3GAN is with a tonne of snacks and no expectations. Perhaps it would have been more enjoyable if they had fully embraced either the serious themes or the goofy action-esque, TikTok-ish tone. But a mash-up, even though some movies manage it, did not work here.
