Two years after M3GAN's rampage, her creator, Gemma, resorts to resurrecting her infamous creation in order to take down Amelia, the military-grade weapon who was built by a defense contractor who stole M3GAN's underlying tech.
When the first M3GAN hit cinemas, it felt like a delicious genre cocktail; part horror, part satire, part viral internet moment. Its mix of unsettling doll creepiness and sly humour was fresh enough to make it a minor phenomenon. With M3GAN 2.0, director Gerard Johnstone hasn’t simply tried to repeat that formula. Instead, he’s taken a page from the Terminator playbook: dial down the horror, amp up the spectacle, and lean into a more action-driven, high-camp tone. The result? A sequel that’s entertaining in the moment but rarely keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Set three years after the events of the first film, M3GAN 2.0 finds Gemma (Allison Williams) living in a very different reality. No longer the reluctant guardian of a killer doll, she has turned her dark chapter into a platform for responsible tech advocacy. Her career is thriving; she now runs a company with partners Tess (Jen Van Epps) and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez). More importantly, she’s built a healthier, more trusting relationship with her niece Cady (Violet McGraw).
But peace in the world of artificial intelligence never lasts long. In a move that feels both inevitable and deeply unwise, the United States government has recovered fragments of M3GAN’s technology to create a new AI weapon: AMELIA, played with eerie precision by Ivanna Sakhno. Designed as a lethal assassin, AMELIA is a polished, human-like android whose creators give little thought to the ethics of their project. Predictably, she develops self-awareness and quickly goes rogue, leaving the government desperate to find someone to take the blame.
From here, the film shifts gears from tech-horror to something closer to sci-fi action comedy. Think Terminator 2 filtered through a social-media age lens, with glossy fight scenes, doll-on-doll combat, and a healthy dose of sarcastic one-liners. M3GAN herself, once the sole terror of the franchise, now finds herself retooled and reluctantly cast as the hero. Her personality this time resembles that of a sarcastic teenager hiding vulnerability, mirroring Cady’s own growth and occasional rebellion.
The ethical commentary is still there, though less pronounced than in the first instalment. Johnstone and co-writer Akela Cooper use the sequel to explore ideas about accountability; whether in AI development, parenting, or personal relationships. A recurring theme is that AI ethics are an extension of human ethics; blaming a machine for harm often sidesteps the question of human responsibility. The film also touches on the risks of unregulated government tech projects and the temptation to use technology as a substitute for genuine human connection.
Where the movie stumbles is in the handling of its new villain. AMELIA, as a concept, is formidable: a state-sanctioned killing machine built without moral safeguards. Sakhno certainly brings the physical presence and an unsettling stillness to the role, but the script never grants her the distinctive personality or sharpness of wit that made M3GAN so memorable. This absence weakens the emotional impact of their eventual confrontation.
That confrontation, however, will be a highlight for many viewers. The introduction of AMELIA paves the way for a string of highly stylised doll-versus-doll battles. Amie Donald returns to perform M3GAN’s physical movements, while CGI augments her face and occasionally her whole body. The fights are fluid, bizarrely graceful, and often laced with absurd humour. It’s exactly the kind of camp spectacle the marketing promises.
But spectacle comes at a cost. In prioritising set pieces and meme-ready moments, the film sidelines its human characters for long stretches. Cady’s arc, while thematically connected to M3GAN’s, feels underdeveloped. Even Gemma, once the emotional anchor, spends more time reacting to chaos than driving the plot.
Tonally, M3GAN 2.0 can be jarring. It moves quickly from blockbuster action to half-serious debates on AI regulation, only to pivot into quippy banter designed to go viral. The absurdity could have been a strength, but without consistent tonal grounding, the result is more scattershot than sharp. The runtime doesn’t help; as the story pushes past the two-hour mark, momentum begins to falter.
Still, there’s an undeniable charm to how wholeheartedly the film embraces its own ridiculousness. M3GAN’s sardonic wit remains a delight, especially in the early sequences when she’s little more than a head and torso, exuding deadpan menace. Her evolution from destructive force to begrudging protector is handled with enough care to feel satisfying, even if the journey isn’t as suspenseful as it could be.
Visually, the film contrasts AMELIA’s human-like appearance, complete with a carefully styled wig, with M3GAN’s still-doll-like design (which maintains that Chucky-style). This choice makes their duels feel like a clash of styles as much as a clash of characters. It’s also a reminder of how much of M3GAN’s identity comes from her deliberately artificial look, something AMELIA lacks.
By the time the credits roll, M3GAN 2.0 has delivered exactly what its marketing promised: bigger action, broader humour, and a double helping of camp. It’s the kind of sequel that invites you to laugh as much as gasp, that swaps the creeping dread of its origin story for the flashy adrenaline of a crowd-pleaser. It won’t satisfy those who wanted the franchise to stick to pure horror, but as a pivot into sci-fi action territory, it mostly works.
It’s not perfect; the villain’s thin characterisation, the loss of tonal balance, and the sidelining of the human cast keep it from greatness. But there’s a certain joy in watching a film that so openly revels in its own excess. M3GAN 2.0 might not be edge-of-your-seat cinema, but it knows exactly how to work a crowd.
M3GAN 2.0 was released in NZ cinemas on June 26, 2025