Another week, another horror film.  We’ve reached the midpoint of 2025 and by my count, a dozen have been released in Australian cinemas.  They’ve included the wildly unconventional (Sinners, Bring Her Back) through to cliché-laden trash (Final Destination: Bloodlines, Heart Eyes).  I’m not sure we’ve needed that many but the fact they’ve outnumbered comedy and romance movies is a sign of the times.  They appeal to younger crowds and they’re a demographic more likely to visit cinemas than older audiences.

The original M3GAN was released in January 2023.  A computing engineer, Gemma (Williams), created an android doll for her 8-year-old niece, Cady (McGraw), but things went haywire when the overprotective doll started killing people.  It was predictable but director Gerard Johnstone added a few creative flourishes, such as the song choices, to make it worthwhile.  The public clearly agreed as it took in $182 million USD at the global box-office against a budget of just $12 million.  That’s a recipe for a sequel in anyone’s book.

If you’ve seen any of the promotional material for the cutely titled M3GAN 2.0, you’ll realise they’ve spun the robot’s character around and transformed her into a helpful hero.  The villains this time are a group of dodgy government military folk who have covertly used M3GAN’s programming to create their own doll, called AMELIA, who is being used as an assassin on a secret Middle Eastern mission.  AMELIA develops a mind of her own and goes feral (surprise, surprise) and so it’s up to the robot-turned-good to take down the robot-gone-bad.  As returning characters, Gemma and Cady will also have a role to play is saving the world.

It’s not a total write-off but M3GAN 2.0 is subpar.  The first movie felt like a credible “this could actually happen” tale with its exploration of robots utilised as a substitute for friendship and parenting.  This feels clumsier by trying to bring in shady government departments, with endless funds at their disposal, and goofy agents.  The drama doesn’t feel as “dramatic”.  The same can be said of the comedic elements with much of the humour falling flat.  The tones change far too often.  It’s hard to care about a character’s fate when they seemingly have no care themselves.

A new model isn’t always better than the old one and sadly, that’s the case with M3GAN 2.0.