INTRODUCTION
M3GAN 2023 is a science fiction horror movie written by Akela Cooper and James Wan and directed by Gerard Johnstone.
When Wan’s Atomic Monster Productions was looking for plot concepts, they settled on one that involved a murderous doll as their starting point. Even though Wan’s 2014 film Annabelle is about a killer doll, he said, “Basically, the idea is not to embrace technology too much or to not rely on it enough. And what occurs when technology becomes uncontrolled. It feels timely because it is a statement on our world “.
With Allison Williams and Violet McGraw as its main cast, M3GAN revolves around an artificially intelligent doll that learns about her “primary user” and develops a hatred for anyone who stands in the way of her relationship with her human companion.
Amie Donald physically portrays M3GAN, and Jenna Davis provides the character’s voice. ‘
This film runs for 1 hour and 40 minutes, and English is the primary language used in communication.
SYNOPSIS/PLOT
M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma, M3GAN can listen, watch and learn as she becomes a friend, teacher, playmate, and protector for the child she is bonded to.
When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady, Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent.
Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady to resolve both problems–a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.
M3GAN OFFICIAL TRAILER
M3GAN FILM REVIEW
I am a huge fan of traditional horror films, so even though I classified this as a Horror film in my Introduction, I wouldn’t personally refer to it as a horror film because I expect a horror film to instill fear, to have a shock element, and to be gory. M3gan does not have any of that; the horror is mild. I would say the film was made for Gen Zs.
Regardless of my expectation before coming into this film, M3GAN is a good, enjoyable film with a bit of dark comedy sprinkled around. The film starts well and progresses gradually with impressive character development. Each character’s role is stated either through dialogue or through another means, so you know what to expect from them.
Character/Acting: The film focuses only on a few characters, so there are a few to discuss.
Megan, the robotic ‘toy’. She is my favorite character from the film as she is the one with the most screen time and also the one with the most impressive performance.
As stated in the introduction, MEGAN is played by two characters – Amie Donald and Jenna. They both played unforgettable roles as Robots, and their performance almost fooled me into thinking that Megan was a real-life robot. The way the body synced with the voice though they were different entities, is incredible.
Another character I enjoyed was Allison Williams, who played Gemma. This should be Allison’s third horror film, and her performance has improved. Gemma is a robotics engineer at a toy company. I loved her performance though not her role in the film as she is so obsessed with her work that she fails to care for her ward. Her performance is good. Her display of emotions especially frustration and shock is also impressive.
Cinematography: This film has excellent visual effects; the cinematography is okay – not great and not bad, with great shots and camera positioning and angle, especially towards the end in the forest. The musical scores and sounds were good too. One of the scenes where the music played a vital and funny role is when MEGAN was dancing. Kylie Norris from New Zealand taught Amie the dance movement, and the 11-year-old flawlessly executed it.
Themes: Megan’s theme talks about several commentary issues like the excessive use of technology, the dangers of artificial intelligence, and so on.
The case of excessive use of technology is portrayed in the relationship between Cady and Gemma. Gemma couldn’t care properly for her orphaned niece, so she creates a device for Megan to care for Cady, who then gets addicted and so attached to the technology. This attachment kills her ability to socialize to the point that she wants to go everywhere with Megan. When Cady’s parents were alive, they made sure they limited the time she spent with her iPad so that she could socialize and interact with the environment.
Another theme from this film is the dangers of Artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is a good thing, yet it has some disadvantages, and these disadvantages can sometimes exceed the positives. Megan was made to be a companion and care for Cady, but she soon starts hurting people to perform her duty.
DID YOU KNOW
In post-production, Amie Donald’s physical performance as M3GAN was enhanced by digital visual effects by the New Zealand-based effects studio Weta FX. Speaking about the design of M3GAN, Gerard Johnstone stated that he “looked to screen icons from the ’50s like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, and Kim Novak for inspiration. But I wanted some ’70s naturalism to counteract her synthetic nature, so the hair is one hundred percent Peggy Lipton.- IMDB
CONCLUSION
Megan is an enjoyable sci-fi film, but I wasn’t satisfied after watching this film because I was expecting something gory. The film is predictable and has no shock value, but it’ll be enjoyable for kids, so I recommend for anyone. Now, tet me go and practice the “MEGAN dance”.
You can watch M3GAN on Netflix and Apple TV
Similar genre – The Black Phone (2022)
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