Following the death of her parents, pre-teen Cady goes to live with her workaholic aunt Gemma.
Gemma works for a toy manufacturer, and has developed a new prototype she has called M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android), that will become a ‘friend’ to lonely children.
However, when M3GAN begins to develop a mind of her own, things go awry.
Direction
Written and Directed by Gerald Johnstone. He creates a unique world with some interesting characters, but it is M3GAN, who truly shines. She is a solid ‘thriller villain’ who slowly loses control… and gains more at the same time.
Cast/Characters
Allison Williams (who also produces) plays the role of Gemma.
Violet McGraw plays Cady.
Jenna Davis and Amie Donald play M3GAN.
Other cast members include Ronny Chieng, Brian Jordan Alvarez.
Breakdown
A fun start – with some adverts that make you think you are watching a low priced streaming service – as well as a good pretend buffering moment that will “getcha” if you did stream.
The main problem I had were most of the characters were not really that likable. Gemma is supposed to be the main protagonist, but her workaholic life (as well as her blatantly mismanaging her department – spending money without telling her boss etc is an odd way to really make you root for her.
Then the fact that she created what becomes the primary antagonist of the film is yet another reason to roll your eyes at her many misgivings throughout the film, whether it comes to Cady, her colleagues, her boss, Cady’s therapist (which seems aggressive from the start), her neighbour, her sister… the list goes on and on!
There are too many cliche moments too, with such examples as Cady giving Gemma an “ah hah” moment way too early in the process with M3GAN’s technology. There is also a nonsensical moment where a character steals information, and it is barely acknowledged later in the film.
It never really makes sense why Cady went to Gemma in the first place (and not Ryan’s parents – who apparently clearly want her… but not enough to be written into the film
The real up is M3GAN though, she is a brilliantly written creation, who has the right amount of misdirect (in how she gets rid of ‘problems’) and looks out for Cady. As she becomes more self aware when her AI improves, is when she becomes a true ‘threat’ and then the film becomes a humans v M3GAN.
Overall
With a poorly written human protagonist, who is just plain unbearable – the character of M3GAN is what really sells this movie (that’s why it’s not called Gemma).
A little too cliche at times, but there is a good amount of heart v tension with M3GAN being a solid antagonist.
Followed by a sequel.
3.5/5
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