M3gan (Mini-Review)

M3gan is a horror film with a touch of dark comedy. After Cady's parents die in a car accident, the young girl is left in the care of her work-oriented aunt Gemma. When Gemma is unable to truly connect with Cady, she gifts the grieving girl a prototype that is supposed to be the greatest friend a person could ever have. Model 3 Generative Android, M3gan for short, seems to be the companion Cady needs. But things start to go wrong when M3gan decides on extreme measures to protect Cady. M3gan was released in 2023. It was directed by Gerard Johnstone. It stars Allison Williams, Jenna Davis, and Violet McGraw.

When I saw the first trailer I became interested. It looked to be a so bad it's good movie. Luckily it is a much better movie than I first imagined. There are moments that are meant to be funny instead of moments that are unintentionally hilarious.

M3gan is an extremely interesting character and a compelling villain. She is learning about the world and her place in it. All the while her program compels her to protect Cady. But her actions later in the movie make it seem like she only cared for the girl out of being programmed to do so and not because she actually cared. M3gan becoming an evil Artificial Intelligence (AI) seemed to not be as stale. Not exactly fresh, but not stale either. Or maybe the truth is I like seeing AI go evil.

One of the things this movie focuses on is how we have become too addicted to electronics. The way Gemma markets M3gan for Funki, the company she works for, is as a replacement for parents. This makes sense for her as she is extremely work-oriented to the point she doesn't connect easily with other people. But parents would pay dearly for their own M3gan as some parents already shove their children in front of electronics instead of caring for them.

At a few points I was confused since it seemed like an R rated movie and I thought it was a PG-13 movie. Well...I was half-right as it had an R rating originally. It seems that originally the body count would have been higher and the kills gorier. While the movie works great without a high death count or gore, I am never going to say no to more gore. If an Unrated version is released I'll want to see it.

The movie revolves around Cady struggling to deal with her grief. M3gan doesn't help as pushing away the pain causes problems. When bad things happen to you, you need to feel sad. You need to have that giant wave crash onto you. Because after that is over, you become a stronger person. This movie hit me hard as my grandma died recently. So while Cady is going through her grief, I'm experiencing my own.

I would recommend M3gan to horror fans. I would also recommend M3gan to lovers of horror comedies. Finally, I would recommend M3gan to those interested in the dangers of AI.