‘M3GAN 2.0’ Review: The Killer Doll Goes Full Blockbuster in a Surprisingly Funny & Entertaining Sequel

There’s a moment early in M3GAN 2.0, when the screen cuts to “Somewhere on the Turkish-Iranian border” that might make you think you’ve wandered into a Jason Bourne film by mistake. It’s the first sign that this isn’t the same sleek little horror flick that quietly broke the box office in 2023. Instead, director Gerard Johnstone has steered the franchise into fresh, and frankly bizarre, territory: part tech thriller, part action comedy, and all kinds of unexpected.

Following the events of the first film, roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams) now spends her days warning the world about the dangers of unchecked artificial intelligence and campaigning about it’s ethical uses. But when a new government-engineered droid named AMELIA (possibly the worst acronym ever…you’ll hear it), malfunctions in the worst possible way, involving snapped necks and scorched earth tactics. Gemma is forced to confront the very creation she tried to bury: M3GAN.

And that’s where things get weird, wild and well quite unexpectedly funny, M3GAN’s reintroduction into the physical world is down right hilarious, a good unexpected choke on your popcorn laugh. And if the first film played like a cheeky little cousin to Child’s Play, this sequel is more in line with Spy Kids meets The Terminator. The horror roots have mostly been yanked out and replaced with snappy dialogue, kinetic fight scenes, and a surprisingly self-aware sense of humour and somehow, it works…mostly.

M3GAN, once the stuff of viral nightmares, is now recast as a sardonic saviour. She’s slicker, sassier, and far more comfortable cracking a joke than a jaw. While the threat she’s up against is significantly more lethal AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno) doesn’t just glitch, she detonates, the tone is more playful than perilous. Johnstone leans into the absurdity, and the result is a film that trades suspense for spectacle, and jump scares for punchlines.

To his credit, Johnstone handles the genre shift with confidence, even if the plotting can’t quite keep up. The script tries to juggle themes of techno-ethics, military overreach, and corporate greed, while also making room for a mid-movie musical number and more than one unexpected dance break. Not all of it gels, but it rarely drags. In fact, the film’s biggest surprise isn’t that it ditched horror, but that it manages to stay mostly entertaining in doing so.

Is M3GAN 2.0 smarter than its predecessor? No, But it might be more fun.

Performance-wise, the cast is game. Williams brings emotional credibility to the chaos, Sakhno’s AMELIA is menacing without being too cartoonish, and Amie Donald (physical performance) and Jenna Davis (voice) once again give M3GAN a delightfully deranged edge. A standout supporting turn from Jemaine Clement as a sleazy tech exec adds an extra layer of weirdness that feels entirely intentional.

There are flaws, the bloated second act is filled with needless backstory and undercooked side characters. Some of the humour misses. And while the film toys with ideas about AI and human responsibility, it rarely explores them beyond surface level. But for a story about two killer androids beating the bolts out of each other, that’s a forgivable trade-off.

Is M3GAN 2.0 smarter than its predecessor? No. But it might be more fun. It’s a sequel that knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be and even if it’s a few upgrades short of greatness, it’s hard to argue with the results when you’re grinning through a fight scene set to a power ballad and having quite a good laugh…especially when you didn’t expect it!

M3GAN 2.0 is now playing in cinemas worldwide.

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