M3gan

Ten second review: as soon as I saw that robot turn its head in the trailer I knew I’d enjoy M3gan. I wasn’t expecting it to actually be good though, let alone great!

"This little girl has lost her family. Then this doll is also brought into the situation. That resonates for a lot of people in the gay community, the idea of found family."

This is a quote from Akela Cooper, writer of M3gan when asked about why queer audiences had latched on to this film. Let’s be clear; we can intellectualise the reasons all we want, but real ones know.

It’s because that robot served. She quite literally *spoiler alert* slayed.

M3gan is the story of a young girl (Violet McGraw) who is taken into the guardianship of her aunt after her parents are killed in a road accident. Unsure of how best to entertain her niece, toy designer Gemma (Allison Williams) decides to try out her latest prototype; a highly advanced multi functional robot.

Plenty has been said about how refreshing it is to have a genre film in January that isn’t awful, but I think this does some disservice to the film makers. This film isn’t good for January or good for a surprise hit, this film is just great.

Not only does the film have some sincerely creepy moments and a few good jumps, but it leaves you actually questioning some societal criticisms that we are gently just coming to accept. It’s all fun and games writing it off as just campy horror, but there is a real message here and it’s worth engaging with! Are we trying to replace real and necessary human interaction with technology?

Is this cunty little robot going to give you the answer? No, but she might have you second guessing putting a smart speaker in your house or a tablet in your kid’s hand.

That being said, that message would not be nearly as listenable or effective if this film wasn’t a joy to watch. Full of characters that are just right; the kombucha drinking tech CEO, the snivelling assistant, the awful neighbour, you are always fairy certain of where the film will go, but getting there is so much fun.

There are some surprises on that journey! Nothing I’d dare spoil here, but safe to say M3gan’s dancing isn’t the only talent you’ll leave thinking about.

I really enjoyed this film and I will be telling people to go and see it. I really can’t think of anything negative to say about it. Funny yet poignant, scary yet easy to watch, campy but not to be disregarded. No notes. Just excellent.

Roll on M3gan 2.0!