Flipping the script doesn’t always pay dividends…

While M3GAN 2.0 certainly has some fun moments, its uneven script and thin narrative with some heavy handed messaging manages to hold on thanks to the smart Alek charm of the films heroine.

Two years after M3GAN, a marvel of artificial intelligence, went rogue and embarked on a murderous (and impeccably choreographed) rampage and was subsequently destroyed, M3GAN’s creator Gemma (Allison Williams) has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of A.I. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw), now 14, has become a teenager, rebelling against Gemma’s overprotective rules. Unbeknownst to them, the underlying tech for M3GAN has been stolen and misused by a powerful defense contractor to create a military-grade weapon known as Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno), the ultimate killer infiltration spy. But as Amelia’s self-awareness increases, she becomes decidedly less interested in taking orders from humans, or in keeping them around. With the future of human existence on the line, Gemma realizes that the only option is to resurrect M3GAN (Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) and give her a few upgrades, making her faster, stronger, and more lethal. As their paths collide, the original A.I bitch is about to meet her match.

While it embraces the idea of going T2: Judgement Day for the tweens, M3GAN 2.0 shoehorns in a few too many plot points; particularly in a rough 1^st act and is ultimately only saved by a charmingly smart assed performance by Jenna Davis that allows M3GAN to actually have a little humanity to her.

Writer/Director Gerard Johnstone returns on this installment where they make a very obvious pivot from horror to comedy and it only half way works because it’s just too darn rushed as it tries to jump into its narrative in a really rushed and pretty awkward way.  It gave itself no time to get started which made for a really awkward start into this second installment that relied on looking slicker then it’s B-Movie trappings suggested it could be.  There are some good jokes and fun segments but none of the characters got a chance to really feel established and the movie only really found its footage when our heroine returned.

Jenna Davis doing the voice of our title heroine is actually what brings the energy level up in the entire film.  As the smart assed AI sociopath who is now on the side of good actually brings the bitchy mean girl fun to the proceedings.  Violet McGraw as Cady and M3GAN’s charge is still pretty fun, but Alison Williams is all over the map while Jermaine Clement is trolling the movie and our villain Amelia played by Ivanna Sakhno never got the memo that we’re trying to be campy in this one.

In all honesty only Davis played this role right allowing for some dead pan charisma to come out from a comedic standpoint while simultaneously allowing her character to evolve into something more genuine and real.

When you dump a few half-hearted (but all be it accurate) messages about the perils of dealing with AI in this new world we live in, it becomes painfully clear that M3GAN 2.0 can’t make up its mind on what it wants to be.  Is it a socially conscience morality tale to remind us to be more educated on the ever evolving technological world around us, or is it a gonzo action comedy with a science-fiction and horror bent to it?  It tries to be both but actually ends up being neither which ultimately makes it a fun but weak 2^nd installment in a franchise that will almost certainly get a 3^rd installment if only because of how damned inexpensive it was to actually make this movie in the first place.