Rating: 7.7
Premise: A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a life-like doll that begins to take on a life of its own.
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Universal
Directed by Gerard Johnstone
Screenplay by Akela Cooper
Story by Akela Cooper & James Wan
Cast: Allison Williams, Jenna Davis, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng
Runtime: 1hr 42min
Rating: 14A
Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
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IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
RT Audience Score: 79%
RT Critic Average: 7.2/10
RT Audience Average: 4.1/5
Metacritic Score: 72
CinemaScore: B
Letterboxd: 3.3/5
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My Review:
Please explain to me how “M3GAN” has a higher critic and audience score than “Babylon”. I really have no idea…
All that aside, “M3GAN” is a really fun film! I’m not used to getting a good movie in January, usually this is where movies go to die. But Universal/Blumhouse finally was able to change that with this movie and I couldn’t be happier! I love that Universal is taking risks and green-lighting some really unique, niche and overall bonkers B movies, from “Violent Night” to “Cocaine Bear”. And this strategy is paying off for them, people are having fun with these movies. Sure they may not be the prime ticket, A-list films like their “Jurassic” or “Fast and Furious” franchises, but these small, entertaining movies are an easy way to make some quick money and satisfy audiences along the way, as well as giving filmmakers the opportunity to tell original stories! So yeah, I’m surprisingly a fan of “M3GAN”!
“M3GAN” definitely does not reinvent the wheel, we’ve seen many of these elements in movies before. What makes it work is how self-aware the movie is, it knows the tropes of an AI story that we have become used to, and just has fun with it! I would say it is more of a comedy than a horror, as it is fairly light on scares and kills, but that doesn’t mean it is any less entertaining. The movie is unapologetically silly, and all the better for it! It’s a horror-comedy that effortlessly delivers laughs and a few good chills along the way! If you’ve seen the trailer, the movie delivers exactly what the trailer promises. Basically it is “Child’s Play” mixed with AI, with some of “Robocop” and “Ex Machina” blended in. It doesn’t have the strongest script, but still manages to have some decent social commentary on parenting, AI, and death, and it is very clever in many instances. Ultimately the script and filmmakers seemed to have set out to make a fun movie, and they did it! It isn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever seen, nor is it a horror masterpiece. But for what it is, it is pretty entertaining!
This seems like the perfect movie to turn your brain off to and watch with friends! There’s lots of intentional and unintentional laughs — the movie does not take itself too seriously! There is nothing surprising quality wise, on a technical level it is just fine and the acting is so-so, but for a January B-movie it accomplishes what it needs to. There’s no twist, it is pretty predictable, but it is a weird and bonkers movie that delivers on its promise, so I couldn’t help but have fun with it! It really leans into the hilarious absurdity of its premise, and I have to respect it for that!
Fun Fact: One of the first Hollywood films within the last 45 years to be released on the first Friday in January and obtain a fresh Rotten Tomatoes score. Traditionally, films released on the first Friday in January, especially horror films, had received generally negative reviews from critics.
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