Movie Review: M3GAN 2.0

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: June 27th, 2025 / 04:43 PM

M3GAN 2.0 movie poster | ©2025 Universal Pictures / Blumhouse

Rating: PG-13
Stars: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis (voice), Ivanna Sakhno, Jemaine Clement, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Aristotle Athari, Timm Sharp
Writer: Gerard Johnstone, story by Gerard Johnstone & Akela Cooper, based on characters created by Akela Cooper & James Wan
Director: Gerard Johnstone
Distributor: Universal
Release Date: June 27, 2025

M3GAN 2.0 arrives two-and-a-half years after M3GAN. Since she’s all over the poster and the trailers, it’s no spoiler to say that M3GAN (voiced by Jenna Davis, played onscreen by Amie Donald), the companion doll-turned-murderous independent AI robot, is back. How and why she gets her old face and body takes up most of Act 1.

The U.S. government now has its own AI robot, acronym codename A.M.E.L.I.A. (Ivanna Sakhno), but no sooner do they unleash her on the enemy than she goes rogue, slipping her electronic shackles and heading for the States.

Since the events of the first M3GAN, M3GAN’s creator Gemma (Allison Williams) has overcome the legal problems in the wake of the first film’s rampage, but she’s still grappling with guilt. She’s also still navigating the difficulties of parenting her now twelve-year-old niece Cady (Violet McGraw), who wants to follow in Gemma’s scientific footsteps.

Gemma would rather Cady do just about anything other than study computers and urges the little girl to do activities that don’t involve screen time, like aikido. Gemma herself has become involved with a nonprofit, headed up by her new boyfriend Christian (Aristotle Athari), that seeks to make sure AI is used only for good.

Meanwhile, Gemma’s team, Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Epps), worry about their boss but resent that she doesn’t give them more credit in her book tours and TV appearances. A techno gazillionaire, Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement), wants Gemma to come work for him.

This setup yields some results that we expect and more that come as clever ninety-degree zigzags, courtesy of the script by director Gerard Johnstone (who also helmed M3GAN), from a story he crafted with Akela Cooper, based on characters created by Cooper & James Wan for the previous film.

M3GAN 2.0 has a bigger budget than M3GAN, with a larger canvas and more elaborate set pieces and stunts. But where M3GAN 2.0 displays real growth is in its moral scope. The first film ultimately didn’t ask too many questions; here, everything is much more complex and unpredictable. This is an instance of, the more we think, the more we feel.

This is not to make M3GAN 2.0 sound tremendously serious. On the contrary, it is so loaded with one-liners and sight gags (to say nothing of Easter egg tributes to other movies) that it also easily qualifies as one of this year’s funniest comedies, if at times a dark one.

The cast is all once again wholly on target. Williams brings the correct amounts of determination, defensiveness and shame to Gemma. McGraw is intelligent, curious and stubborn as Cady, in addition to impressing with her aikido moves. Donald and Davis are a splendid double act as M3GAN’s physical and vocal presence, and Sakhno keeps us guessing as A.M.E.L.I.A. Clement hits exactly the right notes as Appleton, and Alvarez and Epps provide fine support.

M3GAN 2.0 shares some source code with TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. Apart from some story similarities (you’ll know them when you see them), it’s a sequel to an already strong movie that’s even better than the original.

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