Robot Revolution: The one that's a killer robot musical

 

 

Title: M3GAN

What Year?: 2022

Classification: Mashup/ Anachronistic Outlier

Rating: It’s Okay! (3/4)

 

As I write this, I’ve been going through more movies than usual trying to settle on one I would review. I finally decided it was time to do two things I hadn’t done in a while if at all. First, I’m starting a new feature, albeit one I had thought about for a very long time. Second, I’m kicking it off with a movie that is not only out in theaters but well on its way to becoming a “mainstream” hit. I’m going to be talking about robot movies, and the first in line is M3GAN, a killer robot movie that mostly delivers what it promises… with musical numbers.

Our story begins with an ad for the latest electronic/ AI toy, a Furby with an ipad interface. It turns into tragedy when a girl is left an orphan, and it just happens the lead designer for the toy’s manufacturer is her aunt. Of course, the girl ends up with her aunt, who clearly has no business taking care of a hamster under ideal circumstances. To deal with her new responsibilities without in any way distracting from her career, the narcissist-minded inventor brings home an android prototype named Megan (sorry, I am not using the gimmick spelling) to comfort her ward. The orphan quickly bonds with the AI, convincing a fire-breathing boss who specifically asked for something else to publicize a launch event. Meanwhile, the bond between the android and the kid deepens, to the point that the bot preemptively takes out the neighbor’s dog. When humans start turning up in the body count, the inventor considers pulling the plug, only to find that her foster daughter already favors Megan over her. But the real question is, will this be a tense drama/ psychological horror piece about near-future technological ethics, or another slasher crossover about a Frankenstein analog run amuck? Well, did I mention the robot sings???

M3GAN is a 2022 science fiction/ horror film by New Zealand filmmaker Gerard Johnstone from a script by Akela Cooper and James Wan. The film was a multinational coproduction between Blumhouse Productions and Wan’s Atomic Monster Productions, filmed mainly in Los Angeles and Auckland, New Zealand. The film starred Allison Williams as Gemma and Ronny Chieng as the boss David, with Violet McGraw as the orphan Cady and dancer Amie Donald credited as the android Megan. An animatronic puppet and other effects for the android were created by Adrien Morot, whose previous credits included The Adventures of Pluto Nash (you really can’t win them all). Additional CGI effects were provided by the Weta Workshop, best known for the Lord of the Rings live-action franchise. The film was given a general theatrical release in January 2023 after an LA premier on December 7, 2022. As of February 2023, it has earned $161.5 million against a $12M budget. A sequel has been announced for 2025.

For my experiences, this review is the result of two converging threads in my reviews. First, I have inevitably reviewed a fair number of movies in the “killer robot” genre, notably The Terminator, Hardware, Saturn 3 and The Mitchells Vs The Machines, as well as “adjacent” films that featured robots as significant antagonists, like The Black Hole, Logan’s Run and Lily CAT. From the very earliest date, there were movies that I passed over because they did not fit what I was doing, and these continued to pile up even after I had broadened my horizons considerably. On the other side of the equation are my very conflicted feelings about “mainstream” filmmakers taking on “genre” subjects, as in the likes of The Space Between Us and A Quiet Place.  With that backdrop, I was very skeptical when I began to see word of mouth building around the present film. What I freely allowed in its favor is that robot movies have in fact been the source of some inarguably excellent science fiction films with “mainstream” talent and polish, which I won’t go into while I’m still planning out this feature. I decided it was worth a look and a possible review. I came out pleasantly surprised, up to a point.

Moving forward, what really stood out to me is that this is the kind of “near-future” sci fi that could work just as well without the sci fi part, if it wasn’t already ambiguous. That right there gets to both the strengths and certain weaknesses of the film. There is compelling drama and undertones of domestic farce in the interplay of the inventor, the girl and the machine that would still work if Megan was “supposed” to be nothing more or less than a very realistic toy. There is also very good satire that keeps the focus on the “real life” tech and the corporate culture behind it, incidentally earning Chieng the star status I’m according him here. The real problem is that the film rarely if ever offers any corresponding ambiguity about Megan, which is an especially baffling oversight from the “mainstream” filmmakers otherwise known supernatural horror. We could have had a doll as an imaginary friend and proxy for the child’s anxieties and darker impulses (see, if anything, Picture Mommy Dead). We could have had a clearly powerful AI whose motives are complex or unknown, like HAL or Skynet. (The berserk phone in Mitchells comes close…) Or, we could have had a “real” robot whose sentience might or might not go beyond their masters’ wishful thinking, like the femme bot Alicia way back in The Twilight Zone. (Wait, did Rod Serling get a pleasure robot on 1950s television???) The common denominator with my usual rants is that there is little sign that the mainstream newcomers understand what made the best in the genre great, if they are aware of them at all. The result is a film that answers its own questions long before the end. That is why a film like this is good for jump scares, not so much for sheer existential terror.

Inevitably, one must deal with the effects and character of Megan herself. On the technical front, this is unquestionably among the best of the very best, especially for a “medium budget” film. What’s most noteworthy is that the film regularly references 1980s/ ‘90s robots, both on-screen and “real life”, without ever coming across as trying to mock or outdo them. In the process, the film lays down quite realistic abilities and limitations for the bot, at least for about the first half of the film. On this vein, it is especially intriguing to see the quite believable reactions of the bystanders in the film’s world, who usually either accept and ignore Megan if they aren’t paying attention or react with shock and outright horror if they get a closer look. Recognition is also in order for non-anthropomorphic touches like running on all fours, as well as her completely terrifying ability to mimic the human characters’ voices (identical to the Terminator!). My inevitable rant is that the finale compromises on the realistic limits introduced before, which paradoxically makes the later scenes far more predictable. It’s interesting and original while Megan treats even the dog as an adversary who could damage or destroy her on equal terms. When she is literally throwing healthy adults around without effort in the final act, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, albeit done well.

Now for the “one scene”, I noticed a lot of very good moments that I could easily find online. But, as usual, the one that interested me was one I absolutely could not find, and that’s impressive to say considering the only other film I reviewed from a theatrical viewing was Everything Everywhere All At Once. Right at the end, Megan and Gemma are sizing each other up before the inevitable. In the mist of it, Megan reveals that she can “remember” her own evolution from software that predates the bot. From there, recounts the mother figure talking and reading stories to her developing base AI, before shifting priorities and neglect took hold. It’s the first time we get a sense of her relating to anyone besides the kid, further confirming patterns in what we’ve already seen. In the process, we also get some groundwork that earns certain sequel hooks already being discussed. It’s a twisted picture of domestic dysfunction laid over the Promethean archetype of the Frankenstein myth. It’s why even I will freely admit that this is a good movie.

In closing, after going longer than usual, I come less to the rating than to where this fits in the ranks of robot movies. In the bigger picture, if I had to pick a “best” out of the robot movies I have reviewed so far, with further adjustments for where a robot counts as a “main” character, my honest choice would be The Mitchells Vs. The Machines. (Okay, Terminator would be at least a tie, but technically, I didn’t rate that one…) That film will further suffice to show why I find the present one flawed by comparison, to a degree that gets mutually embarrassing when dealing with an animated film that didn’t even get a theatrical release. As I will show, there are still plenty of better robot films, both “recent” and vintage. In their company, this is the kind of movie that earns its place with the best without quite rising to the top, and that should by all means be more than good enough. With that, I have said enough.