M3GAN (2022)
So I'm just now seeing this flick. It may not flaunt a novel premise, but it feels painfully relevant in an era where I could have AI write this review if I wanted. Don't worry; these are my words. Does it bother you that I could easily be lying? Because it bothers me. That's the conceit of M3GAN. Technology has officially become creepy. There is no video game involved, but M3GAN does for the modern day what Evolver did for 1995. It combines the "killer doll" agency of 1991's Dolly Dearest with the technophobia that galvanized 1993's Ghost in the Machine. Now that I've gotten 90's references out of my system, let's jump into a synopsis. On second thought, I probably don't need to recapitulate the plot to you. Obviously, a little girl befriends the Megan prototype. Mom - the engineer behind the project - gets suspicious when the nextdoor neighbor's dog goes missing. Eventually, Megan pushes a kid into oncoming traffic, but the movie is smart about how the stakes are raised.
In Evolver, the corporate types were portrayed in a realistic light. Here, the bigwigs are more conventionally composed, but in their defense, they don't realize that Megan is on the blink until it's too late. Just like Evolver, M3GAN wraps a slick thriller around the nuts and bolts of its script. I don't mean to keep comparing the two, but Evolver set the bar ridiculously high. That's my problem, though. I enjoyed this viewing experience anyway. I'm sure that the film has something meaningful to say about robotics and the fact that AI is a potential source of unrest for many, but it also works on a superficial scale. I look forward to turning my brain off with M3GAN 2.0 at some point down the road. Do we have a new horror icon on our hands? Hmm, the jury is still out, but I'm all for M3GAN merchandising opportunities. Are we sure that Charles Band didn't serve as executive producer? I guess we'll know if M3GAN 4 and 5 are shot simultaneously in Romania.*
*I'm pretty sure that Puppet Master 4 and 5 were shot in California, but that's not as funny.
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