I Can’t Believe How Good ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Is

It’s not unprecedented to shift genres for a sequel. Alien plowed from deeper horror into a larger action romp, Happy Death Day did something similar, and the film M3GAN 2.0 seems to borrow the most from, Terminator 2, even shifted deeper into science fiction from its horror sci-fi first instalment. So, it’s perhaps unexpected, but not unnatural for everyone’s favorite dancing robot companion to shed her horror roots comedy to TikTok dance her way into a zany 90s sci-fi action romp.

Reports of M3GAN’s (Amie Donald) death were greatly exaggerated, and she has, in fact, been haunting Gemma (Allison Williams) and Cady’s (Violet McGraw) smart home. Something she only reveals to Gemma when the FBI comes searching their home for information about her connection to a rogue war machine named AMELIA. AMELIA, a US asset, was loaned for a black ops mission but blindsided her handlers when she turned out to be a trojan horse. Trying to figure out her origin and how to stop her, the FBI suspects Gemma and her company, which has now become a beacon for the responsible use of AI technology, but whose original M3GAN plans were in the hands of those who crafted AMELIA. Gemma doesn’t have time for all of this nonsense, her having turned to a life of running a foundation that lobbies for safe AI laws, but she is pulled back into robot shenanigans when her family becomes AMELIA’s next target, and M3GAN is the only thing equipped to save them.

A reluctant Gemma becomes this movie’s Sarah Connor as she begrudgingly works with the promises-to-be-reformed killer bot with messy programming to try and stop the newer model from ushering in the end of the world. The faster, better, more advanced AMELIA has everything on M3GAN, save for her grit and willingness to be more in touch with her humanity. Much like this year’s Companion, M3GAN 2.0 is an intentionally kooky nod to the greatest movie of all time that uses smatterings of homage to make something self aware and comical. This is not a meta or hyper-intelligent tale, but it isn’t trying to be, it’s trying to deliver a silly kick punch action movie that brings some sci-fi conversations about AI into the twenty-first century.
Though only credited for story (and characters created by), the zaniness of Akela Cooper (Malignant) is all over this film. Script reins were taken by director of both, Gerard Johnstone, who mostly delivers on the weird tone but seems unable to keep up with the awkward and surprising humor of Cooper’s original. The direction is effective and feels less kneecapped than the first by their PG-13 rating. This is Terminator 2 for the TikTok girlies, for better and for worse.

Though the sum of this film’s parts makes for a quick and enjoyable couple of hours, this second installment has lost the element of surprise. Much like Malignant, M3GAN had us consider whether or not the film was playing it straight while having comedic actors deliver absurdly grim dialogue. It often dared us to laugh before pushing all the way into its eventual tone. M3GAN 2.0 is being asked to give more Content of a meme-ified dancing bot, so has to lean deeper into the gags, costume changes, and dance scenes. It’s no wonder it had to pivot its genre.

M3GAN 2.0 isn’t a transcendent self-aware meta feature about the fear of Terminators in a world where we use new technologies to swap lip-syncs, it’s a follow up feature to a surprisingly fun horror comedy that gives us more dancing, more jokes, and more capers that will make you want to blow dust off of your DVD copies of Steven Segal movies.

M3GAN 2.0 hits theaters June 27, 2025