M3gan (2022)
M3gan is a delightful little horror thriller, that lives up to the hype.
The movie obviously takes its cue from the Child’s Play-movies. It even looks like an eighties thriller.
For those who haven’t followed the news or seen the memes, which made sure the character became popular before the movie’s released: M3gan is a doll. A killer doll, even though it takes a while before she actually starts killing.
(This movie is actually fine for scaredy cats. It contains some violence, especially towards the end, but the gore content is so slight it is almost non-existent. If you don’t like that, well there is always Terrifier 2…)
M3gan is about an inventor whose invention takes over the story. In this case the inventor, robotics engineer Gemma, is played by Allison Williams, who is best known for her work in Girls and Get Out and also serves as an executive producer.
Williams is excellent as Gemma, who has to become a mother for her niece Cady (Violet McGraw), when the girl’s parents are killed in a car accident.
Gemma is a career woman, a scientist, who wants to do the right things, but is somewhat lacking in social skills. So she invents a new toy for Cady, to keep her busy.
At first, it seems to work. The life-like doll (played by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis) makes Cady happy. Gemma’s boss is also happy: he wants to start mass production on M3gan in time for the holiday season.
But then M3gan starts to develop a mind of her own and... well, I think you can guess which way the story is going. The plot is fairly predictable from here on out, but I like the fact that all the main characters are women, which makes it kind of a feminist horror movie, even though I’m not sure if it was meant to be.
Apart from that, the movie doesn’t really break new ground. I think everyone will agree that technology can be dangerous if it is not used properly.
But as it is, I think the creators - producers James Wan and Blumhouse, writer Akela Cooper and director Gerard Johnstone - just wanted to have fun with its high concept, which is also reminiscent of movies like War Games (1983) and Weird Science (1985).
And I think that’s fine. McGraw is great as a kid who is on the one hand still deep in mourning but at the same time open for new adventures.
And M3gan is puppet, who realizes she doesn’t want to be a puppet anymore. Which is always a good thing.
Slight spoiler: I think the movie could have been scarier if the creators had decided to turn Gemma into a villain. But I’m glad they didn’t. The choice they made keeps the story more grounded and human.
I’ve always been ambivalent about all the Child’s Play and Chucky-sequels, because most of them have not been very good. But I’d like to see more of M3gan.