M3GAN (2022) (1 Viewer)

[Noir Norn]

Maybe but I don't think it worked at all on that level either.

Normally, I don't piss and moan about movies here (and I won't keep doing it for this one either) but the critical love for this one is just completely confusing to me.

It didn't work for me on any level. Flat, dull, insipid. Way too little too late

 

[WillG]

Finally saw this yesterday. The biggest logic obstacle for me is why you would design M3GAN whose primary purpose is to be a child’s companion to have killer strength

 

[Tino]

Finally saw this yesterday. The biggest logic obstacle for me is why you would design M3GAN whose primary purpose is to be a child’s companion to have killer strength

My guess would be to help that child in an emergency that requires strength. Trapped under something example.

 

[WillG]

My guess would be to help that child in an emergency that requires strength. Trapped under something example.

Still seems like a significant risk.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Viewed M3GAN recently. I did not love it, but it was fairly entertaining. The film is just bonkers and I enjoyed that aspect of the feature. It sort of plays like an amalgam of horror, black comedy, and a cautionary tale of AI run amuck. Think Child's Play updated for contemporary times. For me, it is one of those films where your ability to accept the premises presented by the feature is a fundamental key to enjoying the film. It is outlandish, but given the tone of the film, I was able to sit back and enjoy the ludicrous nature of the movie. Some of the characterizations are very broad, but it goes with territory that this film is staking out.

This was a Blumhouse production and they seem to specialize in these fairly entertaining mid-budget features. I need to check out more of their productions.

I mildly recommend the film.

- Walter.

 

[WillG]

Viewed M3GAN recently. I did not love it, but it was fairly entertaining. The film is just bonkers and I enjoyed that aspect of the feature. It sort of plays like an amalgam of horror, black comedy, and a cautionary tale of AI run amuck. Think Child's Play updated for contemporary times. For me, it is one of those films where your ability to accept the premises presented by the feature is a fundamental key to enjoying the film. It is outlandish, but given the tone of the film, I was able to sit back and enjoy the ludicrous nature of the movie. Some of the characterizations are very broad, but it goes with territory that this film is staking out.

This was a Blumhouse production and they seem to specialize in these fairly entertaining mid-budget features. I need to check out more of their productions.

I mildly recommend the film.

- Walter.

For me it was slightly entertaining but comes with some real leaps of logic. In addition to the aforementioned giving a robot that was designed as a child’s companion killer strength, there was the part where M3GAN could conceive of a murder/suicide frame up, could drive a car, bury a body. Also I’m thinking through the whole thing has the Alison Williams character ever seen a movie about artificial sentience? Does 2001, Alien, The Terminator, Westworld, TRON not exist in this universe? Because it seems that M3GAN was designed without any thought of safely protocols (at least I don’t remember any mention of it in the movie). And while not nice of me to say, there were times I wanted to slap that kid in the face. I know you’re not supposed to think too much about these kinds of things, but the leaps are pretty glaring.

Slightly entertaining but overall pretty lightweight, I can’t imagine I’ll be compelled to watch it again.

 

[Walter Kittel]

In addition to the aforementioned giving a robot that was designed as a child’s companion killer strength, there was the part where M3GAN could conceive of a murder/suicide frame up, could drive a car, bury a body

M3GAN had access to the internet, so her conceptualization of the activities listed didn't take me out of the film. She was a learning machine; she just learned some bad stuff.

And while not nice of me to say, there were times I wanted to slap that kid in the face

Cady was annoying at times; but she had experienced the traumatic death of her parents, M3GAN wasn't exactly the best role model, Gemma wasn't ready to be a mother, and the counselor was ineffectual at best. Given her circumstances I was willing to cut her a lot of slack.


Not trying to overly defend the film, because you need to take it all with a rather large grain of salt, but the tone it adopts sort of conditioned me to not take any of it seriously - which helped me enjoy the film.

- Walter.

 

[WillG]

M3GAN had access to the internet, so her conceptualization of the activities listed didn't take me out of the film. She was a learning machine; she just learned some bad stuff.

Yeah, I get that M3GAN having access to the internet provided at least some rudimentary explanation for that, but I guess the leap there for me is the ability for M3GAN to actually plot even if she conceptually knows what a murder/suicide is. But I guess AI is moving fast. I guess I look at it as if you teach a computer to play chess it would consistent beat all but maybe a dozen people in the world, but if you arbitrary changed one of the rules of chess the computer would be less capable of adapting.

Then I think of Ash in Alien. One of the subtitles of that character is that while he has detailed knowledge about human anatomy (and I know that the internet as we know it today didn’t exist in 1979 but since Alien takes place in the somewhat distant future, you have to assume Ash has even more access to information than M3GAN) he doesn’t inherently know how to kill a person. This is evidenced by when he does try to kill Ripley in the unconventional manner of rolling up a magazine and trying to force it into her throat. He could have strangled her or crushed her skull, but he used the magazine, why? Because he associated Kane’s death with something being forced down his throat. Then when Parker tries to pull Ash off of Ripley, what does Ash do, he squeezes Parker’s Chest, again associating Kane’s death with Chest trauma.

And I also get that Cady had been through a lot, that’s why I said it wasn’t nice of me to say there were times I wanted to slap her

I can’t believe I am putting this much analysis into this movie

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Hah, they did kind of give themselves a blank check on explaining what M3GAN could do by including in the dialog in M3GANs speech to Gemma that Gemma had no idea exactly how the AI worked and that she was just winging it.

 

[Tommy R]

I was disappointed in this the same way I was disappointed with Cocaine Bear. A whacky, crazy but potentially entertaining idea, and they just take it a tad too seriously and don’t make it fun enough and just leaves me feeling bored through the duration. I’ll point to 2013’s “Zombeavers” as a perfect example of how to do this kind of movie RIGHT.

 

[EricSchulz]

I finally saw this. The unrated version is available on Amazon Prime. Like so many others have said, it’s an interesting premise and I felt it wasn’t scary but it creepy/unsettling in some early scenes. But there were too many stupid/unlikable/annoying characters, gaping holes of logic and some ridiculously bad dialogue and scenes. Definitely don’t understand the hype.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I finally saw this. The unrated version is available on Amazon Prime. Like so many others have said, it’s an interesting premise and I felt it wasn’t scary but it creepy/unsettling in some early scenes. But there were too many stupid/unlikable/annoying characters, gaping holes of logic and some ridiculously bad dialogue and scenes. Definitely don’t understand the hype.

So, I guess you won't be purchasing the 4K/UHD that was just announced.

 

[JoeStemme]

To it's credit, M3GAN starts off okay with a fairly long setup which establishes the themes and main characters. Too drawn out, and there are some plots issues early on, but, kudos given for not leaping into jump shocks right off the bat. Unfortunately, about half-way through -- with an outdoors school sequence -- it jumps the shark and keeps on leaping into ludicrousness.

Basically a variation of Chucky from the CHILD'S PLAY movies with a tip of the evil cap to THE BAD SEED, Akela Cooper's script (co-story credit for James Wan), brings up serious issues of loss and parenting only to use them as cheap emotional tricks. The lapses in logic grow exponentially as the movie progresses Director Gerald Johnstone stages some of the action well, but, can't avoid the pitfalls of far too many brainless horror films before it - particularly towards the end.

The M3GAN design as a visual isn't bad (a sort of tyke sized version of Nicole Kidman crossed with the Olsen twins) but why invest a toy with superhero strength? And, didn't Gemma (Alison Williams) or her cohorts ever read Asimov's three laws for robotics (or saw them in a movie or TV show)?

M3GAN has a slick ad campaign that went viral on social media which helped it at the box office, but why oh why did critics fall for it, too?? Or, were those glowing reviews malignant AI creations? (95% on RT!).

 

[JohnRice]

I finally saw the unrated version. Mildly entertaining. I didn’t expect it to be a dark comedy, but it was rather obvious it was going to be, early on. It was worth a watch, but I doubt I will ever be tempted to revisit it. As is so often the case, they didn’t know how to end it.