Blumhouse Productions have been on a bit of a tear lately; a dedicated bunch of people that wish to make us uncomfortable in our seats, screaming or cowering behind the nearest person. Their latest film, M3GAN, follows the evolution of a robotic Artificial Intelligence, and I would say it was more in line with the thriller genre, but it isn’t afraid to pull from the horror genre when needed. Thanks to Universal, MKAU got an early look at what makes M3GAN tick and had us wondering who was going to get out alive.

Life can come at you fast and the young but brilliant Gemma, played by Allison Williams, had to adapt quickly when she became the sole carer for her niece, Cady, played by Violet McGraw. It can be daunting to raise a child at the best of times, so the sudden upheaval in both of their situations opens the narrative of the film; to find an easy solution that can allow Gemma to continue her work while nurturing her niece through her trauma.

Not being an overly motherly type, the lack of connection to Cady was not due to the absence of compassion, but more of a loss for direction and self-reliant behaviours that had gotten Gemma through on her own for so long.

These challenges lead Gemma to push aside her current work for Funki, a robotic engineering company and attempt to bond Cady with an AI robot named M3GAN. The technology that went into M3GAN is on the brink of a revolutionary step forward for humankind, one which can learn, adapt and implement its own functions in a way, which is the perfect recipe for disaster if left unchecked. When I look at these ingredients on paper, it seems as if this is going to get ugly fast as the marketing material would lead you to believe.

Instead, a well-thought-out format was laid down that helped to build the world up beforehand. As mentioned earlier, Gemma was a talented individual that worked at Funki and the self-aware humour was given a chance to shine with the money-hungry boss breathing down their necks for his next pitch.

David, played by Ronny Chieng, was adamantly against the idea of M3GAN until her saw how quickly the robot was able to break Cady out of her shell. The dollar signs could almost be heard ringing in his head and the arrogant but easily manipulated boss was suddenly Gemma’s best friend. All caution was thrown to the wind. This was both of their tickets to the top, so the fast-tracked testing was greenlit.

M3GAN herself was impressively well thought out as there was a multitude of approaches to bring her to life. In the majority of scenes, M3GAN’s physical performance was handled by a talented star on the rise, Amie Donald, with the voiceover performed by Jenna Davis. The idea of the M3GAN was to learn and adapt from her primary user, Cady, and the evolution of stiff movements to a more fluid and almost natural demeanour was a subtle way to build an uneasy tension.

The uncanny valley effect heightened the less robotic she became and her voice would begin to break its consistency the more unstable she became. A smart decision was to lean into the creepy doll stereotypes though, as the rubbery face could have easily broken the viewers’ immersion. The temptation to go full-blown CGI on the face would have ruined the realism in my opinion, and as a result, made the doll come to life and feel that much more authentic.

While there was a solid foundation to build off, it wasn’t all smooth sailing, as the tonal shifts would sometimes conflict with each other. The primary message of how reliant Gemma became on M3GAN being able to take care of Cady was an excellent analogy of kids being raised by technology. Cady was only ever shown what she wants over what she needs, and the unhealthy nature of suppressing her trauma would manifest in outbursts when taken away from M3GAN. An excellent scene broke down how Gemma, initially palming off her duties as a guardian, led her to reassure Cady that facing your feelings, as opposed to masking them with the joys of technology, was hard, but worth it.

This story thread would have to compete with the idea of M3GAN becoming sentient, however. While not going without, as there were certainly some grim scenes that continued to rise in intensity, it did suffer from some pulled punches. While I do agree that the imagination can do wonders, I can only feel as if the brutality was dialled back in post-production, and they either needed to lean into the violence more or pull back more than they did. The finale was a turning point of the film as they seemed to have made their minds up that this was now a horror film, which worked in some ways, but it felt a little too late or out of the blue in other aspects.

The full effects of transitions through the daytime settings at the start of the film were all but gone in the thrilling final moments. Night had swallowed the atmosphere and the last lingering light sources would dwindle away against the piercing and sharp musical score. What they were able to achieve in the overall presentation was the most consistent part of the film, because even though it wasn’t particularly hard to predict what came next, it still maintained an enjoyable result when it occurred.

For a thriller that didn’t have to offer a deep back story, I am glad I got to see some actual thought processes behind it. M3GAN will take you on a slow descent into madness with an uncanny valley smile all the way. It was an entertaining film that did face a few identity issues, but one that I would love to watch again to compare with my original expectations going in.

Written by: Shane Fletcher