Things M3GAN 2.0 Does Better Than The Original Movie

M3GAN was released worldwide in 2023 and featured a familiar robot killer plot with a little twist. The doll, M3GAN, was made by designer Gemma for her tech company. She decided to test the pairing functionality with her niece/adopted daughter, Cady, and things started to go wrong quickly. After getting rid of M3GAN seemingly for good, it appears the sequel had other plans for the murderous doll.

Now Gemma and M3GAN have to team up to stop an even bigger threat to the world, AMELIA, who is a doll soldier gone haywire. It’s definitely a bigger sequel in terms of scope, but is M3GAN 2.0 better? Let’s go through what the movie does well, with spoilers at the ready for both movies.

6

The Presence Of Jermaine Clement

A Better Evil CEO

Jermaine Clement plays a new character in M3GAN 2.0, Alton Appleton, who is a big CEO of a tech company that is seemingly backing every company’s cloud computing technology. Everything that Clement touches is comedy gold, from Flight of the Conchords to What We Do in the Shadows, and his presence in M3GAN 2.0 injects some life into the project. The minute he wheels into Gemma’s lab in a Professor Xavier-like wheelchair should get some chuckles from the audience.

In the first movie, Ronny Chieng played a similar CEO role, David, but he was a bit more bumbling as a boss, whereas Appleton seemingly knows what he is doing. Unfortunately for Appleton, he’s still a clown looking for only three things: power, money, and women. The last of those three things ends him quickly, via AMELIA, but still, Appleton is a good character in M3GAN 2.0 thanks to Clement’s performance.

5

The Escalated Plot Makes Sense

Robots Running Amok

The first movie had a small plot about an evil doll going haywire and secretly sabotaging or killing people. It was like a spiritual successor to Chucky in the modern age of tech. The sequel goes after AI as a concept, which is a hot topic right now.

Beyond that, it brings up the idea that if a M3GAN doll existed, there would be military applications for it, which is what AMELIA is. It may seem ridiculous to turn M3GAN into a super-powered robot to fight back in a spy thriller, especially since the first movie was more or less grounded, but it has been done before. The Terminator was more of a horror movie, and then Terminator 2: Judgment Day was an action movie, so the M3GAN series is following the best killer robot trends.

4

Still PG-13, But More Kills Overall

Time For Action

There weren’t many deaths in the original film, which was a shame because horror fans go to movies to see the kills. Imagine going to a Scream or a Final Destination movie and only getting implied kills. M3GAN 2.0 is still PG-13, meaning that they can’t get excessive with the gore or show too much like the first movie.

That said, the kill count is bigger, which is always appreciated in a horror sequel. There are some intense injuries too, like when Christian gets his arm broken toward the end, or Tim gets impaled with a rod. Again, it’s more of an action movie with horror motifs, which is understandable why there are more kills, but it’s good all the same.

3

Cole And Tess Have More To Do

Gemma’s Coworkers Aren’t Just There To Die

Cole and Tess are Gemma’s coworkers, as all three have a share in their current backdoor tech company. Gemma doesn’t treat them like equals at first, which is part of the problem, directly from the first movie. As the story progresses, Gemma learns to listen to their opinions and includes them in the M3GAN situation.

Of the two, Cole definitely has a bigger role. He’s at Appleton’s party, he dresses up like an android for the AI convention, and even infiltrates the Xerox secret base by chloroforming some guy. Cole is a full-on spy seemingly out of nowhere, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but his added screen time is appreciated. Tess could have used more to do, but at least her role was slightly bigger in M3GAN 2.0 than in the original movie.

2

M3GAN’s Many Forms

From House To Gemma

M3GAN was thought to be dead after the first movie, but she cleverly dragged her body to an abandoned house, input her data into a link, and then created a smart house. She first appears to Gemma and Cady as a smart house, obeying commands like opening drawers, and then she projects her image onto walls via a literal projector.

Her mangled body is another form that seeks to be mostly practical effects, along with a cuter companion model, and her upgraded combat form. The most interesting version of her in M3GAN 2.0 is when Gemma puts the computer unit into her head, which combines the two minds into one. These experimental forms bring more to M3GAN as a character, even though she is just a robot.

1

Leaning Into Comedy

None Of This Makes Sense

The basic theme of M3GAN 2.0 is chaos. Nothing makes sense, and yet it all works. Why would the FBI break into someone’s house and then get thwarted like they were in a Home Alone movie? Why would Cole be so adept at being a spy?

How did M3GAN survive without Gemma knowing? These are all valid questions, but they ultimately don’t matter. M3GAN 2.0 is the type of over-the-top sequel that embraces comedy and action to please the audience. It’s all very silly, and it’s great when sequels lean more into camp like how Gremlins 2 went full Looney Tunes.