M3GAN 2.0 Review

It’s been a mere 17 days since M3GAN 2.0 hit theatres, and already, the new-age killer doll has made her way to VOD, a turn-around that doesn’t bode very well for the quality of this film. I knew that M3GAN 2.0 was going to take the franchise in a new direction, turning away from its horror roots and leaning into the action genre, but I didn’t expect such a box-office bomb to come from the risky manoeuvre. Nevertheless, I went into this movie with a lot of optimism – the first movie wasn’t my favourite slasher in the world, but it had a sense of heart to it, and the campy-horror vibes were appealing to me.

Well, as you can tell from my score, I didn’t have the most incredible time with M3GAN 2.0, and now, on the day of its VOD release, I’m here to talk all about it. In this article, we’re reviewing M3GAN 2.0, and considering the movie had its theatrical release so recently, we’ll be avoiding any spoilers, so feel free to read ahead if you plan to see the movie for yourself. Without further ado, let’s get into the review.

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M3GAN 2.0 Review

Image by Universal Pictures

To be blunt right out of the gate, M3GAN 2.0 is a little bit of a mess. The first film didn’t take itself seriously in the slightest, but there was still a sense of consistency to the plot, themes, tone, and the direction of the movie’s central characters. This sequel is all over the place in all of the aforementioned areas, with tonal whiplash occurring in practically every scene. It’s hard to know whether M3GAN 2.0 wants you to be scared, amused, or thrilled by it, and as a result, it ends up evoking none of those emotions from the viewer. More than anything else during my viewing, confusion reigned supreme, as I tried to figure out what exactly this movie wanted to be.

This tonal disaster is not to blame on the transition from a horror original to an action sequel – in fact, some of the greatest franchises of all time pulled off such a transition, notably Alien, and of course, the franchise that M3GAN 2.0 is likely taking the most inspiration from with this decision, Terminator. The bare truth of M3GAN 2.0′s failure when it comes to this transition is simply that this movie’s writing is not strong enough to pull off such a drastic change. In fact, it doesn’t even feel like the team behind M3GAN 2.0 is confident in their decision, considering their advertising campaign still features the titular character brandishing a machete and covered in blood splatters. Is this an homage to her slasher roots, or an advertising trick to instil false confidence in an audience that probably would have preferred the franchise stick to its guns?

This movie should also have been about 30 minutes shorter than it was, as it really started to drag around the final act for me. A 2-hour runtime is not necessary for a campy action-comedy that, at times, feels like a parody of itself. There’s an emerging trend in Hollywood that sees movies suffering from a lack of editing, and I think that that’s what happened here. Multiple scenes could have been chopped down, multiple jokes that didn’t land could have been omitted, and ultimately, the movie could have been edited in such a way to make it flow better. Maybe then, boredom wouldn’t have been considered on my list of critiques for this movie, and I may have even enjoyed the experience a little more.

Image by Universal Pictures

While I’m on the topic of ‘what could have been’ for M3GAN 2.0, it’s important I address the rating of this movie here. Like the first movie, M3GAN 2.0 is rated PG-13, which makes me wonder who exactly this movie is directed at. The first film got away with it, considering even with the PG-13 rating, they managed to make M3GAN feel like a threat, and we even got one particularly bloody kill in the elevator. Here, I can’t help but wish that this movie was allowed to push the boundaries a little more, especially when it comes to Ivanna Sakhno’s character, who is meant to feel menacing, and yet often kills people in the most comedic way possible. On the topic of Sakhno, she delivers a great performance here, as does Jenna Davis as the voice of M3GAN. However, they’re ultimately not given a lot to work with, and can’t shoulder the weight of this movie alone.

Now, today is the VOD release date of M3GAN 2.0, so the movie has been out in the world for a couple of weeks already. In that time, I’ve seen people defend this film as silly, and have been informed that any negative reviews should stop taking themselves so seriously. Silly, campy horror is my favourite type of horror, so believe me when I say – this film’s silliness is no excuse for its shortcomings. In fact, if this movie was as silly and fun as people would like to have me believe, maybe I wouldn’t have been as outrageously bored as I was for a good chunk of it. The movie is not funny enough to be considered a strong comedy, and the action is not strong enough for it to be considered a good action movie. Everything about this movie is middling, which is why so many have rejected its ‘bold-on-paper’ cinematic decisions.

In horror, I’m all for embracing the camp – in fact, horror movies that lean into the fun side of the genre are my absolute favourite. When watching this movie and, in particular, when reading the reviews for it, I was reminded of Bride of Chucky, a campy classic, and one of my favourite horror movies of all time. While I would love to see M3GAN and Tiffany go head-to-head, ultimately, a movie like Bride of Chucky actually highlights where M3GAN 2.0 fell short. The original Child’s Play movies were horror-focused, while Bride of Chucky turned to comedy. However, in making this change, Bride of Chucky made sure to lean fully into the comedy genre, making sure that such a bold transition could be appreciated by the audience, instead of leaving them wanting more from the original format. M3GAN 2.0 made me want for the character to go back to slicing and dicing like in the first movie, ultimately marking the turn towards action-comedy, a failure.

Image by Universal Pictures

Now, I will be fair and say that the movie did elicit a few chuckles from me throughout its runtime. M3GAN is a funny character, but to be honest, I felt myself finding her funnier in the original movie, more so than she was in this sequel, a movie that’s actually trying to be a comedy. I will advise though, this movie’s comedy sometimes feels like it’s trying to appeal to teenagers with its crude humour, particularly when the titular robot jokes about holding on to particular body parts, or mishearing ‘greatest respect for China’ as ‘yeast infection on my’…well you can fill in the rest. One scene where a character accidentally sneezes into a chloroform rag and puts himself to sleep actually feels more geared towards children than teenagers, but the occasional adult joke nullifies the movie’s appeal towards kids, once again causing confusion as to who exactly this film is made for.

Ultimately, M3GAN 2.0 was a misstep for me when it came to building up a franchise, and importantly, building up an iconic, new-age horror character. I have no idea where a sequel to this could go, but one thing is for certain – we need to see more of M3GAN! I don’t just mean that in terms of making a sequel, I mean in terms of her screentime. She’s in remarkably little of M3GAN 2.0 considering how important she is to the plot, and how much people enjoyed the character in the first film. If M3GAN 3.0 ever comes to be (which may be doubtful considering this film’s performance), I hope she can regain her stardom as the centre of attention.

What did you think of M3GAN 2.0? Do you agree with our critiques, or did we miss the mark? Did we fail to see the fun side of this new action-comedy, or do you agree with us that M3GAN 2.0 lost its sense of identity? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments, and thanks for reading!

See also: Best Movies of 2025 (So Far)

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Where to Watch M3GAN 2.0?

Image by Universal Pictures

M3GAN 2.0 is now available to rent on Amazon, and may still be playing in theatres near you, considering its recent release in late June. The film is set to move to streaming on Prime Video in approximately four-months time, and will release on DVD on September 23, 2025.

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