'M3GAN 2.0' Review: Blumhouse serving continuum of diminishing returns

2023's M3GAN was a surprise smash for Blumhouse, who go all-in on its sequel, whose story-heavy structure disrupts the circuits of its tongue-in-cheek tone

Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN (2023) was a unicorn. It’s an anomaly in its own special way that bears praise and analysis for what made it work as well as it did. The movie was a smash hit, grossing $181 million worldwide against a paltry $12 million budget. This is par for the course for Blumhouse Pictures though, a horror studio known for pumping out Hollywood horror tentpoles on smaller budgets. All things considered, the formula is a sound, money-making machine, and yet the success of M3GAN is particularly fascinating because Blumhouse made their massive payday doing the unthinkable… releasing it in January. Known as a formidable dumping ground for major studios, with audiences still sampling holiday blockbusters and early Oscar favorites, M3GAN saw the potential of being an early-in-the-year offering and capitalized on it hard.

M3GAN received generally positive feedback upon its theatrical run, but its legacy has wavered a bit. Me? I was surprisingly won over by its mix of big tech satire and self-aware comedy, with just a dash of uncanny valley personality to keep things interesting. It’s not perfect and overall closer to being average than truly great but still, I was certainly a happy customer. M3GAN 2.0 (2025) is definitely in-step with its predecessor, but where M3GAN benefitted from a simple story with escalating payoffs, 2.0 spends far too much of its bloated runtime trying to piece together the ethical ramifications of its subject while simultaneously refusing to commit to a side. The result is simply too messy to look past its more glaring inconsistencies.

Kicking off in the Middle East, a U.S. Army Colonel is about to give a demonstration of AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), an android design from technology copied from M3GAN to execute infiltration and assassination missions. However, during the mission, AMELIA goes rogue, becomes self-aware, and escapes his control to engage in her own agenda. Meanwhile, two years after the events of the first film, Gemma (Allison Williams) and Cady (Violet McGraw) find themselves together as the former becomes an advocate for AI regulation, while Cady studies computer science in her free time. When word gets back to Gemma that her technology, unbeknownst to her, was used to create AMELIA, she’s on the hook for treason charges unless she can recover her. Soon after the police leave her home, M3GAN’s (Jenna Davis) software has worked its way into Gemma’s smart home devices, allowing M3GAN the ability to communicate with her and promises she can find a way to stop AMELIA. Gemma reluctantly agrees and alongside both Cady and her team from the first film, alongside Cady, works to put a stop to AMELIA’s reign of terror.

Obviously the strongest element of the M3GAN films is the camp value that comes with the territory of its premise. Despite being promoted by a largely horror-driven production company, the M3GAN films are not as horror-centric as one would expect, leaning more into a action/sci-fi backdrop for its thrills. When the film is aware of how ludicrous its setup is, benefitting from how off M3GAN operates within the confines of her awkward mix of carbon fiber and silicon, it’s a ton of fun to behold. For the large part of the original film, everyone’s on the same page with how ridiculous the premise is and it makes the film a lot more digestible. With M3GAN 2.0, the film is oddly more interested in setting up the actual discourse of its artificial intelligence, striking while the iron is hot given how widely discussed AI is presently. Unfortunately it’s not nearly as fun being reminded of that dialogue. Not only that, but the film isn’t interested in playing to one side of the aisle in its discourse and it ultimately gives the film even less personality.

All hope is not lost though. Williams and McGraw’s tumultuous relationship still helps carry the film through its weaker moments as the pair continue to feel out their still-fresh relationship going from aunt and niece to mother and daughter. Ivanna Sakhno has a strong presence as AMELIA with just the simple stoic look on her face as she vanquishes anyone in her path. And, like I said, the premise still offers its fair share of goofball thrills while adrift in a sea of new issues. When M3GAN gets to shine in scenes where she croons to Kate Bush or distracts an AI convention by getting down to an EDM remix, it has its head in the right place. However, M3GAN 2.0 seldom has its head where it needs to be.

C+

Feature image credit to Universal via Newsweek