{"id":21554,"date":"2025-07-06T09:46:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T13:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=21554"},"modified":"2025-07-06T09:52:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T13:52:47","slug":"m3gan-2-0-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=21554","title":{"rendered":"M3GAN 2.0-2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

M3GAN 2.0-2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Gerard Johnstone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,484<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 6, 2025<\/p>\n

Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shifting from science fiction\/horror to science fiction\/action, M3GAN 2.0 (2025) peppers in enough humor and witty quips from its barbie-like central robotic doll named M3GAN (Amie Donald\/Jenna Davis) to keep things entertaining.<\/p>\n

I expected more horror elements, which are sorely missing to its detriment. This is peculiar since the slasher elements of the first installment are what made it campy fun.<\/p>\n

The story ultimately lost me due to erratic storytelling, preposterous moments, and events that were difficult to follow. Throw in some over-the-top acting, and, at best, M3GAN 2.0 delivers a popcorn summer entertainment classification.<\/p>\n

M3GAN (2023) is much superior.<\/p>\n

The second chapter follows M3GAN being reluctantly rebuilt by its roboticist and creator, Gemma (Allison Williams), to combat a humanoid military robot named AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), which was built using M3GAN’s technology and is attempting an AI takeover.<\/p>\n

But, is M3GAN being manipulated?<\/p>\n

Writer and director Gerard Johnstone swaps the original’s horror software for a more action-leaning approach that doesn’t prove to be an upgrade. Fight sequences and a car chase overtake any creepy moments.<\/p>\n

However, he wisely keeps and even increases the number of quips delivered by the fiendish robot, and some are laugh-out-loud delightful with saucy expletives thrown around for good measure.<\/p>\n

M3GAN primarily engages in banter with Gemma, easily pointing out her shortcomings while remaining a loyal friend and protector to Cady (Violet McGraw).<\/p>\n

These are the fun moments, like when M3GAN admits that Gemma is reasonably attractive enough to lure a man to bed. Her sarcastic and slightly robotic voice worked perfectly, so I longed for more of these scenes.<\/p>\n

The character of M3GAN is the main attraction. More mature and with a cute bob-like hairstyle, she is older and wiser but just as sinister. She has presumably progressed from a young adult ‘friend’ to a grown woman capable of superior thought process and calculating strategy.<\/p>\n

The writing and motivations of the characters are overcomplicated and confusing.<\/p>\n

Four different sets of potential villains are thrown into the complex mix. Christian Bradley, a cybersecurity expert whom Gemma meets on her book tour, Alton Appleton, a corrupt tech billionaire, the U.S. Army, and AMELIA.<\/p>\n

It’s challenging to keep track of who the good guys are or who the bad guys are, and this includes the allegiance of M3GAN.<\/p>\n

An attempt to highlight the dangers of AI to government and technology is a timely and vital message, and is weakly referenced.<\/p>\n

Rather than making it a central part of the film, it is merely glossed over without anything to make that message resonate with the audience.<\/p>\n

The hokey plot-driven story and kung-fu-like action sequences unfortunately outshine the more satisfying one-liners delivered by M3GAN.<\/p>\n

Much of the acting is either alarmingly cartoonish or altogether wooden, mainly on the part of the villains (former) or young actor McGraw, who makes Cady too pouty and brooding.<\/p>\n

Williams, most known for Get Out (2017), adequately carries the film while being upstaged by a robot.<\/p>\n

M3GAN 2.0 (2025) is a ho-hum affair that may result in the termination of the young franchise unless Johnstone wises up and reverts to more comedy and more horror in a potential M3GAN 3.0 effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M3GAN 2.0-2025 Director Gerard Johnstone Starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw Scott’s Review #1,484 Reviewed July 6, 2025 Grade: C+ Shifting from science fiction\/horror to science fiction\/action, M3GAN 2.0 (2025) peppers in enough humor and witty quips from its barbie-like central robotic doll named M3GAN (Amie Donald\/Jenna Davis) to keep things entertaining. I expected more horror … Continue reading M3GAN 2.0-2025<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6506,151,2937,7215,7219,7217,2936,7218,2349,7216,103,7214],"tags":[6507,152,2939,7221,7225,7223,2938,7224,2351,7222,105,7220],"class_list":["post-21554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-films","category-actionfilms","category-allison-williams","category-amie-donald","category-aristotle-athari","category-brian-jordan-alvarez","category-gerard-johnstone","category-ivanna-sakhno","category-james-wan","category-jenna-davis","category-scifi","category-violet-mcgraw","tag-2025-films","tag-action-films","tag-allison-williams","tag-amie-donald","tag-aristotle-athari","tag-brian-jordan-alvarez","tag-gerard-johnstone","tag-ivanna-sakhno","tag-james-wan","tag-jenna-davis","tag-sci-fi-films","tag-violet-mcgraw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21554"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21561,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21554\/revisions\/21561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}