M3GAN | Dir” Gerard Johnstone| In cinemas now | ★ ★ ★ ★
It was German expressionist Fritz Lang’s 1927 black and white science fiction film Metropolis that first introduced a robot with artificial intelligence to the big screen. Since then, there has been a succession of films featuring machines becoming more human, and concentrating on the threat they might pose to humans.
When Cady’s (Violet McGraw) parents are killed in a tragic car accident at the opening of this film, her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) becomes her ill-equipped guardian. A gifted roboticist, Gemma really doesn’t know the first thing about children, so she creates Model 3 Generative Android (M3GAN), a child-like robot, to look after her niece and keep her from physical or emotional harm.
Working at the toy company Funki Toys, Gemma and her colleagues had previously created the successful ‘Purrpetual Petz’ that had an artificial intelligence that could observe and adapt to the needs of their young owners. Although untested, it seems that M3GAN has advanced that feature to become Cady’s best friend and protector and Cady becomes reliant on her.
Taking her role as protector a tad too seriously, M3GAN soon turns the film into a slasher movie, with the most detestable foes being the first to bloody the set. Interestingly the film is rated PG and I am glad I got to see it with a full audience, as I would have felt really guilty laughing so much if there hadn’t been other people around me also enjoying the subversive humour.
This cautionary tale about artificial intelligence and our reliance on technology is highly entertaining and relies on the fantastic performance by Amie Donald as M3GAN which is cleverly combined with animatronics, puppetry and the voice of Jenna Davis.
Not high on the horror scale of frights and scares (my 16-year-old companion described the film as a horror film for those people who don’t like horror films), and an abundance of humorous twists balance the atrocities that are unleashed as we consider where artificial intelligence is leading us.
Lezly Herbert
You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
