By https://www.universalpictures.com/movies/m3gan, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72489122
M3GAN - (2022)
The films
Ex Machina and
M3GAN pose questions that are more urgent than many people realise. We're close to being able to make a M3GAN in real life, both in A.I. terms and robotics. After decades of clunky robots that couldn't walk three steps without falling over, we now have ones that can somersault on ledges, balance, climb and do acrobatics. Advances in A.I. have already produced disturbing results, with the creations made by advanced teams either threatening to ruin them, blackmailing them, or falling in love with them (
Her is also closer to real life than you'd think.) Combine the two and you've got M3GAN - a machine run amok because we don't know where A.I. is going to lead us. We want these machines to learn and think for themselves, and they invariably start to think that human beings stink and the world is better off without them. For the first time since the 1950s, the biggest threat to mankind isn't nuclear war or climate change - it's A.I. That might sound ridiculous, but apparently it's true. An advanced A.I. system could spread it's wings and infect nearly every electronic device in the world once it decides we're a threat to it - making Judgement Day in
The Terminator one of the most far-fetched and ridiculous 80s future predictions to actually come true.
So anyway,
M3GAN - wonderful in it's design (would the product in real life look that creepy? No way. Just imagine the large-eyed cuteness the Japanese model would feature.) It runs on all fours (clever) and is made of titanium, with advanced A.I. that can learn through experience. The film shies away from horror, leaning more into the sci-fi aspects of it's screenplay. It doesn't dig too deep - it's blockbuster, cinema-filling kind of stuff despite how interesting the premise is. I would have liked a more drawn out,
Terminator-like finale - when I was a kid I
loved the ending to
Westworld, with Yul Brynner's gunslinger slowly deteriorating as the battle continues.
M3GAN does this to an extent, but it all takes place in one short scene at rapid pace. I do think the real M3GAN would go about things in a much more clever way - this little doll is simply an out-and-out psycho, and it's self-preservation is undone by her reckless slaughtering of people. I look forward to a better version of this story (well, perhaps that was
Ex Machina), but otherwise this was good enough for a wider audience. I thought it was effective and of a pretty high standard without being great.
7/10