The 2022 film “M3GAN” was one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. The story follows Gemma (Allison Williams), a designer for a toy company whose next big project is M3GAN - a life-like doll powered by artificial intelligence whose purpose is to be a child’s best friend. The more you interact with her, the more she learns and serves as a friend, teacher, and protector. When Gemma becomes the caretaker of her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), this seems like the perfect opportunity for her to test out her latest product.
Advertised as a horror/sci-fi film and produced by Jason Blum and James Wan - two well-known names in the horror genre - I went into the theater expecting some major scares. Instead, I spend most of the movie laughing. While the film did include some suspense, those moments were overshadowed by others such as the AI doll singing “Titanium" by David Guetta and multiple random dance breaks. It’s hard to take the terror aspect seriously while watching because of scenes like this. With actors such as Williams (seen in “Get Out, also produced by Blum), McGraw (seen in Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House”), and even Ronny Chieng (seen in “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), I was expecting more convincing acts of terror and shock. However,I was rather underwhelmed and left wanting more from their performances.
With a movie full of bad dialogue, somewhat lousy acting, and minimal story-telling, you may wonder what brings people in to watch it. I think the draw comes from people wanting to see the chaos. Upon watching the trailer again, I realized advertisers used all those silly moments to their advantage. As you watch M3GAN dance her way down the hall – the popular scene shared by millions on social media - you realize this is more of a horror/comedy. Whether that was the original intention of the writers or not, that’s become part of the appeal to watch. Many people say this film is “so bad it’s good” and I think that’s a perfect way to describe it. As I mentioned before, it’s hard to take “M3GAN” seriously as a horror film, but I think those that go into the theater expecting the unintentional comedy will be more satisfied.
Those who watch expecting a scary movie may be rather disappointed, but if you’ve heard enough about it, then you already know what you’re in for. Many compare M3GAN to Chucky, the killer red headed doll from Child’s Play (somewhat of a classic in the horror genre), but I’d say the former holds up better due to the realness the FX Studio team was able to create. Along with their great special effects, what really brings the doll to life is the actress beneath the mask, Amie Donald. Her performance and choreography are what really bring M3GAN to life.
Altogether, “M3GAN” really isn’t a bad movie. The film has garnered a lot of attention on social media, not necessarily for its star-studded cast or flawless writing, but just for the experience of seeing it.
3.5/5 Stars
