A sequel that likes to upgrade itself, but feels more like a downgrade.
Last week, I received a comment on my 1-star review of “The Electric State.” I don’t know if it was the father or mother talking, but the message said that their family enjoyed and considered it to be children’s entertainment. I didn’t really have first class taste in movies when I was a kid, but these robots looked cheesy and obsolete, so it might make sense that some of today’s kids would find them appealing.
The only thing that prevented that Netflix bomb from getting the lowest grade on my website (Poison for the Mind) is that the Millie Bobby Brown character was basically trying to give out a message that people should see the world, instead of relying on computer headgear to see it for them. At this very moment, we have the sequel “M3GAN 2.0” fighting against A.I., but overdeveloping itself to the very point of underdevelopment. It basically represents my feelings on how A.I. can taint your old videos on YouTube, but at least, this film is more in focus. Anything is better than the HAL 9000 computer being a human.
Allison Williams is back as Gemma, the roboticist behind the M3GAN dolls, who is against A.I. as much as I am. In fact, she’s working on a device that merges people and robots together with her partners Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Epps). Her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) wants to study in the same field at her new school, but also acknowledges that her aunt has boundaries between kids and their technologies. That might make the girl the target of bullies, who need to “find other things to do,” unless she can use Steven Segal as a role model against them.
There’s a secret government weapon with the same technology as M3GAN. She’s named AMELIA (autonomous military engagement logistics and infiltration android), she’s played by Ivanna Sakhno, and she ends up being a deadlier force. That’s when M3GAN comes back into Gemma’s life, not for revenge, but to help stop AMELIA. M3GAN is once again played by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis.
The funniest and cutest part of “M3GAN 2.0” is when M3GAN is given a Teletubby body, which annoys her but delights me. It’s funny, because last week, “28 Years Later” opened with kids watching “Teletubbies,” before most of them got killed by zombies. And at the end, she does appear in an anime sort of way as a substitute for that annoying paper clip that nobody likes on their computer.
While a group of my friends laughed at “M3GAN 2.0” with one of them suggesting it was better than the first, I felt like the black sheep of the group. I liked the way it fights against A.I. with a little more commitment than “The Electric State,” but I didn’t find most of the human characters to be convincing. In fact, Williams seems to be hamming things up more than the first, which basically played like a campy satire on robotic toys and the crap that comes out of kids’ mouths. The one who does make sense is McGraw, whose character seems to be growing and developing, but also fighting for my own cause that kids are not as dumb as adults would think they are. After all, she’s able to give her aunt an arm lock.
Most of the movie, M3GAN struggles to convince Gemma that she’s really changed, even though she killed a few people and a dog in the past. Her excuse is: “I was a child!,” and I’m surprised her response wasn’t “So was Michael Myers!.” I’m thankful these scenes aren’t as annoying as Natalie Portman criticizing her thieving brother played by John Krasinski in “Fountain of Youth,” but it still ends up being repetitive.
“M3GAN 2.0,” once again written and directed by Gerald Johnstone, has its moments and makes a good point about trying to keep humans and A.I. in neutral state, but it seems to be trying too hard to develop the story, which basically transitions from a horror movie to a spy movie. It’s an upgrade, but with some bugs.
