Annabelle Plus Terminator Equals M3GAN

M3GAN, directed by Gerard Johnstone, is a semi-entertaining chaotic robot thrill fest.

Intro

M3GAN, directed by Gerard Johnstone, stars Amy Donald/Jenna Davis (M3GAN), Allison Williams (Gemma), and Violet McGraw (Cady) in a chaotic robot thrill fest. Going viral for a dance scene shown in the trailer, audiences have quite awaited this film. However, it doesn’t quite meet the hype, as it ends up being 100 minutes of subpar dialogues, extremely predictable plot points, and an overall mediocre experience.

Predictable Plots

The story follows Cady, who loses her parents in a car accident on a snow trip. She ends up in the custody of her Aunt Gemma, a robotics wiz who works at a children’s toy company. She creates a robot called M3GAN, which is supposed to be a child’s best friend, and tests it out on her niece. The rest of the film follows M3GAN’s relationship with Cady and all the problems that come with the clash between AI and humans. The overall plot, while intense at times, is straightforward to predict, and that takes away all the suspense and surprise from experience. Most of the dialogues are pretty average and delivered with no real passion. The soundtrack is decent, but it’s nothing to rave about. It’s clear what theme the director was going for; a thrilling, horror-styled machine vs. humans battle. And while that pretty much sums up the film itself, it is much less scary and thrilling than expected.

Decent Acting

The acting is quite decent, as the majority of the primary cast delivers as expected. Allison Williams does a great job portraying her character Aunt Gemma as does Violet McGraw with her character Cady. But it's Amy Donald & Jenna Davis that steal the show with their portrayal of a deranged, ruthless child machine, M3GAN. Amy Donald is the face of M3GAN, and Jenna Davis voices her, and their combination of perfectly timed facial expressions and chilling voice acting creates a pretty exciting persona. On the other hand, the supporting cast delivers subpar, unenthusiastic performances that don't provide much value to the film apart from slight humor. The visuals are standard, but the lighting and effects very effectively bring horror to specific scenes. All of the technical aspects of the movie are fine, but the directing could have been more creative. Nothing extraordinary was ever expected, but Johnstone could have made some surprising directorial decisions or added more exciting twists to stir the audience.

Closing Critiques

It’s hard to say the film was terrible, as some entertaining segments were scattered throughout. However, a large chunk of the movie is unnecessary emotions and meaningless dialogues, all of which lead to a relatively dull experience for the intended thriller theme. But while there’s simply nothing unique or extraordinary about it, it’s a watchable film.

Raving Rating: 6.3