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Review by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
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USA Release: Jan. 6, 2023 Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions, Divide/Conquer, New Zealand Film Commission, Universal Pictures. Rating: USA: PG-13 |
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It's a family road trip!
Mom, Pop, and Daughter are all in a car on what may be a curvy mountain road, complete with high winds and poor visibility. Their 8-year-old Daughter Cady (Violet McGraw: THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE [TV], DOCTOR SLEEP, SEPARATION) is in the backseat with nothing to do but zone out on her phone. Choosing boob-tube cell phone foolery over taking a nap or nothing else, unexplainably upsets Mom and Pop.
This can't be the first time she's done this. And since they allowed her to keep the phone in the car, and there is literally nothing else for her to do in the backseat on a roadtrip, why not?
Both parents, however, have their own way of dealing with their daughter's "problem". Both are Millennial narcissistic enough to think that only their way is the best. Parents get into an argument and, like Hollywood acting Movie people have done for the last 40 years, when driving a car in traffic or dangerous conditions, they think nothing of facing the person they're talking to for extended periods of time.
You can't wait to see these benighted halfwits die and thankfully, writers James Wan (STYGIAN, SAW, SAW III, DEAD SILENCE, INSIDIOUS: Chapter 2, THE CONJURING: Chapter 2, THE NUN, ANNABELLE COMES HOME, THE CONJURING: The Devil Made Me Do It, MALIGNANT) and Akela Cooper (GRIMM [TV], THE 100 [TV], LUKE CAGE [TV], HELL FEST, MALIGNANT), don't leave us hanging.
One deadly car accident later, Cady is the sole survivor and winds up in the custody of her "Too Busy To Bother", Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams: GET OUT, THE PERFECTION, A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS [TV], HORIZON LINE). As an adult, Gemma knew little about her sister, she practically disowned the family for no other reason than to pursue her passion: Making autonomous dolls for the toy company she works for. As it turns out, Gemma is pursuing an illegal passion and that's inventing a virtually indestructible Artificially Intelligent doll that is more than a toy: it will protect the child it's programmed to bond with.
Right. How could this be an utter disaster?
Why Gemma is obsessed enough to want to do this to the point of having no life of her own and risking a prison sentence for stealing from her employer to make it happen (and somehow convince two coworkers to also destroy their careers to risk federal prison time - while leaving full ownership of their invention in the hands of their former employer, if said employer so desired) is never explored.
Just as mysterious is why her sister wanted Gemma to take care of her daughter in case she died, since Gemma has long made it obvious that she doesn't want children in her life and rather have nothing to do with the family she does have.
Seems Cady's Mom was awfully sadistic (to Sis, daughter, husband, and hubby's family, who are apparently more involved in Cady's life and actually want to care for her), which could explain the mystery of why Gemma had virtually nothing to do with her and works at FUNKI, a toy manufacturer, working on ever newer, ever more improved robot dolls.
In the U.S., when parents die, the children are sent to live with a guardian, which also means Child Protective Services come into play. This happens in the form of Lydia (Amy Usherwood: ETERNITY, RESET).
Here's where the plot and characters seem to diverge but wonderfully so. Writers write, but Directors tell the story. Where a director chooses to take a story, in the way they shoot a scene to how they want an actor to deliver a line, may take the emotion of the moment as written, to a place the writer didn't intend.
CPS worker, Lydia, is definitely involved in making sure that Cady is in the right home and properly cared for. It's obvious to her that Gemma is treating Cady as a burden, not a child who needs love and guidance. What Gemma says shows how she's aware of this fault and how uncomfortable she is with Lydia gently calling her out on it.
As if Cady should keep her Aunt's neglect a secret.
Lydia is not the villain here, but these scenes are directed to make Lydia seem like the unwanted interloper in Gemma's life. Dead Daddy's family are willing to care for and provide for Cady, but Gemma is inexplicably spiteful over defending her sister's last wishes: A sister she never seemed to actually even like and has no noticeable grief over losing.
The way I just wrote all of this may come across as merely Lifetime Channel maudlin, but in Director Gerard Johnstone's hands it's anything but.
The movie is, after all, called M3GAN and we already know what it's about: Toy doll goes homicidal!
Gerard Johnstone (HOUSEBOUND) takes the script that Wan and Cooper wrote and turns it all into a time bomb ticking down to the moment that Aunt Gemma brings the just developed M3GAN (Amie Donald) into her home to "bond" with Cady. Because what could be better than testing an illegal Alpha-stage prototype robot on a recently minted orphan still suffering from trauma?
Catastrophically bad and mad only starts to describe it all and that's where the fun of M3GAN comes in.
Aunt Gemma must tangle with her boss, FUNKI President David (Ronny Chieng: BLISS [2021], GODZILLA VS. KONG), who just realized that the reason Gemma and her team are taking so long to deliver the new series of robo toys is because they aren't working on them: instead they're embezzling company time and money to pursue their own projects (the boss has a point).
Gemma must tangle with her inconsiderate neighbor and the woman's dog, that keeps getting in her yard because Gemma is too busy to repair the hole in her own fence (neighbor has a point).
Gemma must also deal with repeated and random life interruptions from CPS worker Lydia, who is growing ever more concerned that Gemma isn't home enough, or cares enough, for a traumatized child like Cady (Lydia has a point).
Cady is becoming increasingly withdrawn when she's not being outright angry and disrespectful toward Gemma. After all, she has family who actually want to be there for her (Cady has a point).
Hell, even the bare bones prototype M3GAN robot makes a good point concerning Gemma's priorities, and it's only a few days old!
But its just an AI. What would today's Artificial Intelligence know about recognizing proper and improper human behavior?
Time for a
!!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!:
Artificial Intelligence after nearly a century of attempts, is finally coming into its own.
Sort of.
Continued at the Science Moment/M3GAN.
From the start, James Wan and Producer Jason Blum were upfront about wanting M3GAN to be a Fun Horror movie and thanks to the script, direction, and acting, I got a strong GHOSTBUSTERS, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, CRITTERS, CHILD'S PLAY, TREMORS, and FRIGHTENERS vibe.
But the interesting depth of M3GAN is also more than knock-about fun. Without being preachy the movie also warns (with a light touch) about where we are going with Artificial Intelligence and what kind of people want to get us there. How much trust can we put into an app or robot for our children when we don't know the personalities and social well-being of the people who are developing them?
To Gemma, M3GAN is the protective "loving" sister every child should have, instead of the one they've got.
The danger of M3GAN is, after all, that she's a product of her three developers. And all three plus the company that will sell her only sees M3GAN as a fat paycheck. An artificial creature that, like them, will break the rules to achieve its goals. M3GAN has the moral values and desires its inventors either have or think they should have, and that's what it imitates as it follows its program. M3GAN's desires are to do exactly what it was programmed to do without fail. And of course, its how it chooses to pursue that reward that's deadly.
Other movies have approached this mindset from A.I. to TRON: LEGACY, but this is the first time I've seen it done this well. M3GAN is both entertaining and thoughtful without stopping or slowing down for a single lecture.
Wow! It's been a long time since a studio Horror movie at the Theater was this enjoyable!
Five Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2023 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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