With forty-five million dollars made within the first ten days of release, M3GAN is taking the country by a chokehold. There are a couple of distinct qualities that make it worth the watch.
The unique concept is one of the first things that got me hooked. I mean an indestructible humanistic animatronic rapidly growing its intelligence and using that intellect for evil doings, That is right up any horror addict's alley. The best part is that the murderous animatronic is meant to be a children's toy, a twist to the typical slasher film.
Another aspect adding to the movie's creepiness is M3GAN’s uncanny valley effect. People detect that the object in the uncanny valley appears very humanistic, but something is off, making people feel uneasy. Other examples of the uncanny valley appear in Cats, the original version of Shrek, and the Polar Express.
Something I wasn’t expecting but was pleasantly surprised by is how unique each death is and how easy it is to turn M3GAN’s once-innocent programming against people. Whether it’s just detaining her from Cady (the little girl M3GAN is programmed to protect) or threatening Gemma (Cady’s aunt and caregiver,) anything could send M3GAN into a homicidal spiral. Late in the film, M3GAN danced her way into murdering Gemma’s boss (for no apparent reason) with a paper cutter and made it look like his assistant killed his boss, then killed himself.
However, the plot line is somewhat cliche—a classic troubled child and an overworked caregiver not emotionally connecting. Rather predictable. However, Cady’s character was different in some ways. She was in a horrible car accident with her parents and was ripped from her life and given to her aunt, who she had barely known growing up. Cady seemed just to be numb. She was only seen crying twice and just kept to herself.
Gemma did what she knew best and used Cady as an advertisement. Cady then became emotionally attached to this deadly animatronic. Her loss of parents, and lack of attention from Gemma, left her only to look for M3GAN. M3GAN took care of her as a parent would. She was programmed that way. She would do things such as tell Cady to flush the toilet or wash her hands. M3GAN was created to “give parents a break,” but instead, M3GAN just took over the job. This made life much easier for Gemma, as she never signed up for any of it.
I had positive and negative opinions while watching this movie. M3GAN sang to Cady when she had a breakdown in front of people who would make Gemma a lot of money. She sang “Titanium,” which was rather odd. People in the theater also seemed to find it funny. I don't know if it was supposed to come off that way, but it did. I also thought that when M3GAN started dancing toward Gemma's boss on her way to brutally murder him, it was unnecessary. It wasn’t scary, and it took away from the spookiness that should be in a horror movie like this.