Starring: Amie Donald and Jenna Davis, Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Jen Van Epps, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jack Cassidy, David Lin and Amy Usherwood

Directed by Gerard Johnstone

Blumhouse, out now

Gemma (Allison Williams) is a brilliant roboticist working for Funki, a company that specializes in AI toys. When her sister and husband are killed in a car accident, she becomes the legal guardian of Cade (Violet McGraw), her niece. Gemma is great at robots and terrible at people and she’s ill equipped to care for a furious, grieving child. She’s also on both probation and deadline. Boss David Lin (Ronny Chieng) wants her to make a cheaper AI toy. But Gemma has bigger ideas. She wants to perfect M3GAN, an artificially intelligent doll designed to act as a caregiver for children. Children like Cady…

As M3GAN’s barnstorming third act opens, Gemma is woken up by M3GAN playing the piano. It’s ‘Toy Soldiers’ by Martika and it captures the movie’s pitch-black sense of humour in a perfect snapshot. The movie is at its best when it does this, balancing that sense of humour with a refreshingly non-male viewpoint, some deep themes and four fantastic core performances. Williams is great as Gemma and clearly relishes playing someone who is, in many ways, deeply unpleasant. Williams has a brittle, staccato quality to her that fits techbro (or perhaps here techsis) to a tee and she’s really fun to watch even as she continues to make terrible choices. McGraw is similarly raw and open and Cady is no one’s one-dimensional victim. She’s grieving and furious, erratic and terrified, desperate for stability and belligerently opposed to anyone getting too close. It’s a great performance and one that reminded me of Frankie Corio’s startling work in Aftersun.  Both feel absolutely real and grounded, not just great child actors but great actors.

At the core of the movie, Amie Donald and Jenna Davis turn in iconic work as M3GAN. Donald is the character’s physical performance with Davis providing the voice but the two mesh so perfectly you just see M3GAN. Donald’s physicality, her ability to move from locked in place to terrifyingly fluid motion is incredible as is the emotional nuance she brings to the role. M3GAN is a constant threat, simply by being in a room and the tension in some scenes is violin-string taut. Davis’ voice work fits Donald’s motion like a glove and it’s an inspired choice to have a slightly older actress voice the role. M3GAN is the living embodiment of the uncanny valley and Davis’ quietly seething delivery is a big part of that. Both impress throughout but it’s the closing, house-destroying fight where they, McGraw and Williams all shine. The need both Gemma and M3GAN have to look after Cady, Cady’s frantic need to take control of her life, and Gemma’s moral and ethical crisis all collide in a fight that’s visceral, brutal, untidy and driven entirely by the emotional needs of the characters. It’s not just a good time, it’s a smart one too.

There are missteps, but no one’s perfect, except perhaps M3GAN. Ronny Chieng, normally great, is directed as though he’s in a different movie and the red herring corporate espionage plot doesn’t quite land. Similarly, Jen Van Epps and Brian Jordan Alvarez as Gemma’s team are on screen enough to make you wonder why they aren’t given more to do. Both are great and both feel like they should be used more than they are.

None of these are movie-breaking problems. M3GAN is so well put together otherwise, and feels so confident and assured in what it’s doing you’re happy to be swept along with it.

Verdict: Ending with a perfect grace note hinting at a sequel, it’s a really fun, smart horror movie and a great way to start the year. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart