Reel Review Roundup

M3gan (M)

Directed by: Gerard Johnstone

Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng

Review by: Julian Wright

Killer dolls and self-aware AIs are not exactly groundbreaking story ideas by this point, but M3gan proves there is still life in them by leaning into the silly and camp factor.

When young Cady’s (Violet McGraw) parents are killed in a car accident, she is left in the care of her estranged, single, childless, workaholic Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams).

Gemma is currently knee deep her latest project at work – a Model 3 Generative Android (M3Gan) – a life size doll that is designed to be a life-like friend to the child it is assigned to.

Perfect for the grieving and lonely Cady, who warms to her new friend immediately.

But this M3gan prototype may have been brought out of the lab a little too early – as her over-protectiveness of Cady grows, so does the body count.

James Wan is on a roll at the moment with his wild style of horror storytelling. Recently he had us in hysterics with jaw dropping twist in Malignant, and now he has concocted the hilarious M3gan.

Writer Akela Cooper and director Gerard Johnstone take Wan’s story idea and crank it to 12 on the ridiculous scale.

Instead of bending over backwards trying to make a lifelike doll terrify us (Annabelle has the market cornered at the moment), they play up the laughs and absurdity first.

The much meme’d and gif’d trailer is just the beginning of some of the left field antics M3gan gets up to (the bizarre dance is only a fraction) and it is best to go in unspoiled for maximum enjoyment.

Just note that you do need to tune into the same nutty wavelength as this film to fully appreciate it.

And yet one of the biggest surprises of this film is just how unexpectedly rounded and well-performed the characters are. there was enough effort put into grounding this wild ride as there was ensuring that it was indeed a wild ride.

Wan and his team are unafraid to go batty and for that we are immensely grateful; a killer doll with a nasty streak and the sas and wit of a precocious 12-year-old? Sign us up for 10 more!

This entry was posted on January 16, 2023 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.