Review: M3GAN 2.0 Is a Glitchy, Goofy Upgrade That Has a Few Fun Moments
The first M3GAN movie was fine. It wasn’t some groundbreaking horror film, but it had enough weird energy and online appeal to spark a mini pop culture moment.
The robot-doll dance, the dead-eyed sass, the absurd blend of horror and tech satire all came together just enough to keep audiences entertained. So with M3GAN 2.0, the filmmakers clearly tried to capture that same energy while going bigger, louder, and more action-heavy.
Think less “killer doll horror” and more Terminator 2… TikTok Edition.
The story picks up two years after M3GAN’s original rampage. Her creator, Gemma, is now a spokesperson for AI regulation, trying to undo the damage caused by the very thing she built. Meanwhile, a defense contractor secretly develops their own next-gen robot named EMILIA, built for espionage and combat.
Naturally, EMILIA becomes self-aware and goes off-script. Faced with a growing threat, Gemma makes the most questionable decision imaginable… she brings M3GAN back online, and rebuilds her faster, meaner, and ready to take down her robotic rival.
The premise is wild, and to the movie’s credit, it doesn’t shy away from that. When the robots finally clash, it’s as bonkers as you’d expect, destruction galore, and plenty of corny one-liners. It’s pure silly chaos.
But you have to sit through a lot to get there. The first half is weighed down with bland exposition and a surprisingly slow pace. Dialogue often feels stiff and overly explanatory, like a badly trained chatbot trying to sound deep. It's a strange irony that a movie about AI sounds like it was written by one.
One of the weirdest choices is how the film made the character Gemma so unlikable. She's written with this frustrating detachment, constantly making poor decisions and pushing away the very people she's supposed to protect.
Instead of creating tension, this just adds a layer of annoyance to scenes that already feel sluggish. It’s hard to root for her when the script keeps doubling down on her worst instincts without offering any meaningful character development.
Still, when the film leans into its nonsense, it becomes something kind of fun and it has a handful of kills that flirt with cartoonish excess. These moments are reminders that M3GAN 2.0 knows exactly what kind of movie it could be. The problem is it keeps pulling back, trying to balance sincerity and satire when it should’ve fully committed to the chaos.
There’s camp in its DNA, but the movie keeps trying to upgrade itself into something sleeker and more serious, and that tension never really works.
There’s no real directorial flair to elevate the material, and despite its attempts at worldbuilding, it all feels pretty flat. The runtime also overstays its welcome. At nearly two hours, you start to feel the drag around the midpoint, especially when scenes repeat the same beats of “AI is scary” without bringing anything new to the table. A tighter, leaner cut probably would’ve landed closer to the zippy, absurd fun the original hinted at.
In the end, M3GAN 2.0 is a messy sequel that delivers a few fun moments but never finds its rhythm. It’s not scary enough to be horror, not clever enough to be satire, and not wild enough to fully lean into camp, but it does have its moments.
If you’re a fan of the first movie and just want more M3GAN doing morally-questionable things in increasingly ridiculous ways, there’s enjoyment to be had here. Just go in expecting a glitchy ride.
Also, the movie had a terrible opening weekend with only pulling in 10.2 million at the box-office, meaning the first movie was lighteneing in a bottle and audiences weren’t looking for more.