When M3GAN came out, I just didn’t get it. The movie ended up being super big for Blumhouse Productions at the beginning of the year. M3GAN performed well and got great reviews.The film just wasn’t for me, despite all that. I decided to watch the unrated version of the scary doll horror movie on Peacock, and I genuinely enjoyed that a lot more.
However, that’s not to say I’m not excited for the sequel. If we’re being honest, I actually am really excited about M3GAN 2.0. I look at sequels not as cash grabs, but an opportunity to improve upon its predecessor. For example – people could say that The Godfather, Part II could actually be better than the first.
Is that what I think? Not necessarily, but there are many that would agree. I personally think M3GAN could get even better with its sequel. So, here are five things I really hope M3GAN 2.0 gets into and explores a little more.
Gemma And Cady’s Relationship
So a big driving factor of the horror film at first was the portrayal of this relationship between Gemma (Allison Williams), the main character of the film, and Cady (Violet McGraw), the niece of Gemma, who she begins to look after when Cady's parents are tragically killed in an accident. The M3GAN cast did an excellent job in all of their roles, but for some reason, I just didn’t get them in this. Their relationship in particular felt very side-lined to what was going on with M3GAN.
That’s not a big thing, really, in the grand scheme of things. The entire film is about M3GAN slowly finding out about what she can do and doing whatever it takes to protect Cady, even taking out people that she thinks could hurt her, including Gemma. We only see a hint of Gemma truly showing signs that she cares for Cady more than just a guardianship towards the end of the film where she fights the robot.
Up until a certain point, she was so happy to leave Cady with the doll, and I think that’s sort of what turned me off of this relationship – that Gemma was so willing to just let a robot take care of the kid that was supposed to be hers after Cady's parents were killed. I think that there’s a lot of room to improve on their relationship in the sequel and show how much they either got closer from this experience, or were torn apart.
The Expansion Of A.I. Technology Regarding M3GAN
I’ll be honest and say that the M3GAN ending had me snorting a little. I thought it was so silly. Of course the robot uploaded her consciousness into the Alexa-like device in the film. What a hilarious way to end this movie on a cliffhanger that clearly gives an opening to a sequel.
But the more I think about it, the more I actually wouldn’t mind it if we saw M3GAN finding ways to use smart devices as a weapon. I think of that ending and it reminds me of a Disney Channel movie I used to love, Smart House, and how the people inside slowly had to fight back against the house when it took over and tried to control their lives.
Think that, but on a horror-movie scale, full of different ways that the house might be trying to kill the occupants, all driven by M3GAN’s backup, because it's her way of getting revenge on Gemma. Then Gemma has to somehow either destroy the house or maybe destroy the smart device or something like that. AI could be used in many ways and this would be a fun way to use it.
Exploring The Theme Of Companionship
M3GAN was on the cusp of greatness when it came to the theme of companionship, but it felt like it fell flat in the last act of the movie.
I really did enjoy the deeper theme that the movie was trying to get at, where using M3GAN as a surrogate parent basically is only going to lead to trouble for children and the parents later on because it not only builds unhealthy attachments to objects that aren’t real, but might make it harder for children to socialize and step away from their robot. But they really only addressed that once throughout the film – and after that, that’s when Gemma started to fight back against the robot.
I would have really loved to see that theme explored. I personally think that if we saw the effects of having a M3GAN doll on many other children besides Cady, that would have been such a great detail to show that sometimes, using A.I. technology isn’t for the better.
And then, it would furthermore establish the relationship between Cady and Gemma. This movie could have had a familial relationship like The Black Phone, which really drove that film, but hopefully in the sequel for M3GAN will get that.
An Adversary For M3GAN
Okay, while a M3GAN x Chuckie battle would probably be the best thing ever considering Chuckie is so violent and M3GAN is so sassy, I don’t think something like that is going to happen for some time, just because of licensing deals and all that fun stuff Hollywood has to go through.
However, I would freaking adore M3GAN to have an adversary. This humans vs. robots thing is honestly already starting to get old and if it’s going to entirely be Gemma vs M3GAN again in the sequel, it’s going to get boring really quickly. However, I do think that if there was a robot – or some other kind of adversary – that goes against M3GAN, it would be great.
I could already imagine a M3GAN v. M3GAN fight. It would be epic. That could be something awesome.
Bloodier Kills
This is why I liked the unrated version a little more – if you’re going to make a movie about a psychotic doll killing people while serving sass the whole time, really lean into. Make it so campy – and that includes making bloodier kills.
It really did add to the viewing experience and made M3GAN feel a lot more threatening than she already was, and I know for a fact that if that was in the sequel, I’d enjoy the heck out of it. There’s just so much that could be done – but making a bloodier movie would be one of the first steps that could happen.
What are you hoping to see in M3GAN 2.0? Time is ticking and I’m sure it won’t be long until we get to see this robot slaying people again and again. It’s going to be epic.
