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M3GAN

M3GAN

We've seen the sci-fi horror phenomenon, and have plenty of thoughts about the flick.

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I continue with a fool's stubbornness to argue that modern horror films should not be PG-13. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, in fact there are quite a few. The horror is not a major problem, even if the violence is of course toned down. After all, PG-13 isn't primarily there to limit the violence, it's not what the Yanks fear the most, it's the swearing and the naked bodies that make the American people choke on their coffee.

The problem I have with PG-13, and something I have long feared in the context of its increased presence on social media, is instead that it allows filmmakers to attract a younger generation and thus fill the films with things that are appreciated by Generation Z and so on. What is sometimes referred to as the TikTok generation. With films that never get truly scary but rather act as a dollar-generating tool to draw in a whole new type of audience to the genre, by generating hype on various social platforms, and this is the case with this film.

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M3gan is a film that went viral on social media even before it premiered, particularly on TikTok, with the main character dancing its way into young hearts. Online dance contests were created, collaborations were started with Taylor Swift and it went on tour, stopping by Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and entertaining at intermission between the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams in the NFL. M3gan was suddenly everywhere. Both in real life and online. It went so far that a "M3gan Bot" was launched on Messenger and Twitter where fans could talk directly to "her" and become BFF's. I could go on and on, with guerrilla marketing via Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit but this is a movie review after all so let's continue on that track.

To begin with, I can say that M3gan is exactly the kind of product I feared, even though it is actually not as disgusting as I first thought. The story is simple, as it often is in these types of films. Nine-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw), who loves her Funki - a furry monster that's connected to the internet, makes adolescent jokes and chats nonstop with her young owner - loses her tech-hating parents in a snowplough accident. She has to move in with her aunt, Gemma (Allison Williams), who of course happens to be an incredibly skilled developer at Funki in particular. Gemma has no children of her own, nor has she ever considered having any. In fact, as good as she is at her job, she's just as bad at childcare, so to solve that predicament she cobbles together an AI-powered doll, M3gan (Amie Donald), who can dance and sing a little for Cady so she doesn't have to act the parent herself. A win-win situation. But there's a reason people warned about Skynet back in the eighties. M3gan, short for Model 3 Generative ANdroid, like all artificial intelligences, is self-learning, and since she's programmed to be nurturing, she soon goes from babysitter to Terminator.

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M3GAN

At Gemma's job, the doll is now a potential success and here devices will be cranked out like never before. It is understood, of course, that Gemma is not alone in wanting to outsource her parenting. The number of parents who would rather go for a round of golf, do mindfulness yoga or similar rather than look after their offspring is virtually infinite, and so a price tag can be set that is outrageously high. At the outset, you could argue that she is actually doing her job, and therefore well worth her £100,000 price tag. She is a bodyguard, a teacher and a nanny all in one. She also never gets frustrated or annoyed when Cady doesn't flush the toilet or forgets to wash her hands before dinner. It's only when the carnage begins that you might want to start thinking about exercising your right of withdrawal.

M3GAN

Blumhouse Productions has a knack for squeezing a lot out of a little, and the same is here. Despite a modest budget, Jason Blum, director Gerhard Johnstone and producer James Wan have managed to park themselves just behind Avatar: The Way of Water. It's certainly not the most original of films. Evil dolls, robots and Androids have certainly had their fair share, from Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis to one of the latest episodes of Black Mirror where a Miley Cyrus-likeness robot causes trouble. But that doesn't mean M3gan doesn't bring something new to the genre. Above all, it's far deeper than expected, handling grief work, humour and slaughter in a really neat way. It's a delicate emotional balancing act that's hard to pull off without being too much, and it's also in the more emotional parts that the film engages the most.

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The acting from Williams, McGraw and Donald is strong and that all-important personal chemistry is there from start to finish. The problem, however, is that this is supposed to be a horror film and so you want to see far more horror than we are treated to in the reasonable running time of around 100 minutes. Just as I feared, there are a few too many metaverse jokes, David Guetta and TikTok dancing for it to feel really comfortable, and the film's popularity makes me genuinely anxious for the future. However, that doesn't detract from the entertainment value of the film, which for long stretches is sky-high.

06 Gamereactor UK
6 / 10
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M3GAN

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MOVIE REVIEW. Written by Mans Lindman

We've seen the sci-fi horror phenomenon, and have plenty of thoughts about the flick.



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