!Killer dolls are nothing new (just ask Chucky) and even killer robots have been appearing on our screens for years now (Westworld, anyone?) but a killer robot doll, something meant to bond with a child and provide joy and happiness that suddenly turns sinister, and offers a chance to serve as a cautionary tale about how much we're letting technology control our lives (Alexa, turn on the ominous music) now THIS I gotta see. As a horror fan, I must see all the new horror movies as soon as possible, and this one needled some of my own fears about how intrusive technology has gotten in our everyday world, so I was stoked to get the chance to see it today.
M3gan stands for "Model 3 generative android." When a young girl's parents are suddenly killed in a horrific accident, she is shipped off to live with her aunt, who happens to be a talented robotocist who works for a toy company. The aunt is testing a new design, M3gan, who is set to be the toy everyone will be asking for as soon as she's released. M3gan is a robot that is designed to bond with a child and become that child's favorite playmate, with programming that lets her adapt and learn from the child and the doll's environment. Predictably, this all goes horribly wrong as the sentient toy becomes a little TOO all-knowing and takes on a mind of her own. This starts small, with disobeying her creator's orders, and slowly escalates to something far more terrifying - and deadly.
I'll admit to being a kind of fuddy-duddy when it comes to technology. I get creeped out by Alexa as she's programmed to respond to voice commands, because I can't help but flash back on 2001: A Space Odyssey and how well everything worked out for those folks when technology took over, so I'm the perfect audience for this kind of movie since I'm already half in the bag when it comes to thinking this kind of technology is a bad idea, so I don't need much convincing to freak out when the robot doll starts acting a little too lifelike.
The child actors in this movie deserve major props. the three actresses who portray the lifelike doll M3gan manage to inject lots of actual menace into the proceedings, and the girl who plays the Orphan, Cady, is very likeable and draws us into her world. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and protect her from all harm, which is exactly how I was supposed to feel and it made me really connect with her character. Allison Williams, the actress who plays Gemma, is endearing, and we get the feeling that she really is devastated by grief and just wants to reach out to her niece and take her pain away, which leads her to make some rash decisions with regards to trying out the new technology on her niece without perhaps installing enough safely protocols, you know, in case the doll turned evil as they are wont to do. There is plenty of cat-and-mouse stalking that goes on as the movie is PG13, so we know there won't be much gore, but the movie ratchets up the creep factor so greatly that we don't really need it. I even felt for side characters, like the crazy old lady with the dog, so their subplots worked for me, and when M3gan finally goes whole-hog with her evil robot antics, it genuinely creeped me out. There's not much new ground to tread here, with the "technology is wonderful but what if it takes over" plot many films have tread, but this one treads well-worn pathways with panache, so I definitely recommend this fun little chiller.
