Starring Allison Williams, Amie Donald/Jenna Davis, Ivanna Sakhno, Jemaine Clement

Written and Directed by Gerald Johnstone

Universal/Blumhouse, in cinemas now

Two years after generative AI robot doll M3gan went rogue and nearly killed eight-year-old Cady’s remaining family, a new and more lethal AI is on the loose, and there’s only one thing that can stop it.

I thoroughly enjoyed Gerald Johnstone’s cheesy 2023 rogue AI romp, M3gan. It was a by-numbers affair assembled from miscellaneous offcuts from Frankenstein, Ex Machina, Pinocchio, topped off with HAL-shaped trimmings courtesy of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Despite some truly awful B-Movie acting, it bowled along nicely and despite an incomprehensible third act, at under 100 minutes it didn’t outstay its welcome.

Two years on and Johnstone is back with a bigger, smarter, funnier and conceptually more ambitious sequel. In more ways than one this is as T2: Judgement Day was to the original Terminator movie. Indeed, the plot of M3gan 2.0 is essentially the same as Cameron’s revered follow-up, with the original antagonist now recast as the self-sacrificing saviour of humanity, against a seemingly superior and definitely more dangerous android foe. Cameron is also owed a beer for a sequence unashamedly reminiscent of Ripley taking on the Alien in her giant killing Power Loader. Fritz Lang might also legitimately ask for half a milk stout while Johnstone is at the bar for the design of killer ’droid AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno giving her best T-1000 Robert Patrick) which is virtually identical to the iconic Maria from Metropolis.

The acting has gone up a notch or three, with the central cast reprising their roles with a good deal more finesse. Johnstone, now writing his own screenplay has peppered the dialogue with lashings of zeitgeisty, laugh-out-loud AI satire, deftly flitting from high camp (mainly courtesy of Jemaine Clement’s enjoyably oily tech-bro Alton Appleton) to flashes of eye-widening ultra-violence.

Much as I love a gratuitous decapitation, the sharpest, smartest, funniest moment of the whole movie is one for anyone (like me) who is congenitally allergic to Disney princesses. Respect to Johnstone for having the chutzpah to go there.

Unfortunately, at a full two hours, M3gan 2.0 is a good twenty minutes too long with a convoluted final act full of unfathomable narrative switchbacks. It more or less made sense, but after the third handbrake turn I had stopped caring.

Verdict: M3gan 2.0 is hugely entertaining, and there’s something for everyone in its 120 minutes, it’s just a shame Johnstone didn’t have the self-discipline to get out while he was still ahead. 7/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com