Is it weird that a horror movie was destined to become a hit because of a silly dance? Yeah, instead of potential movie goers going abuzz with how this scary movie is supposed to deliver the frights, their interest were piqued because they saw a kid dressed up like a doll doing a really weird dance in the trailer.
Well, the marketing strategy worked because M3GAN became a huge financial hit when it was released. But is the movie much more than a dance? Well, I did get a chance to watch M3GAN (or just Megan, which is so much easier to say and type) on HBO Go. And since it is the Halloween season and M3GAN is supposed to be a scary flick, I thought it was apt for me to put up a review of the film now.
Even though M3GAN is a pretty old movie, especially during this day when everything is now available online, I’m still making this a SPOILER FREE review, just in case. Anyway, on with the review!
M3GAN (pronounced Megan) focuses on a genius engineer who makes toys for a huge toy conglomerate. When her sister dies in a tragic car crash, she is forced to take care of her niece. She was in the process of constructing a new toy called M3GAN, an android with a highly advanced AI, and the toy designer then has her niece test out the toy, which somewhat disastrous results.
From the outset, let me say M3GAN isn’t actually a scary movie in the strictest sense. Rather, the film harkens back to the more campy days of horror. You can kind of see the similarities to another horror icon, Chucky, as they both star a killer toy. As such, M3GAN doesn’t really take itself too seriously and is actually kind of low in the scares department. In fact, I will say I was a little letdown with how little gore there is here, despite there being a killer toy on the loose as a lot of the deaths occur off-screen or are just implied. I guess that’s what you get when you make your movie PG-13; some concessions had to be made.
Then again, I think this was a conscious effort from Blumhouse, who produced the movie. It’s not like a horror movie has to have copious amounts of gore to be enjoyable. What they did here was focus more on the campy side of old horror movies and, honestly, it really helps M3GAN a lot to stand out. It genuinely feels like a throwback to the era and shows Blumhouse really knows how to capture the spirit of campy schlock without having to rely on gore.
I will say I was impressed with all of the performances with all the main characters. I will definitely give props to Violet McGraw and Amie Donald, who play Cady, the niece, and the titular M3GAN, respectively. Violet McGraw does a really good portrayal of a little girl who just lost her parents and her performances really shines through as you do feel her trauma. Of course, the star of the film is M3GAN and, despite not really showing her face nor delivering any of the actual dialogue, Amid Donald still manages to bring the character through. She does seemingly ridiculous things, like do a silly dance before stalking someone or chasing after someone on all fours. But this does add a lot to what makes the character and, in turn, the movie very over-the-top and charming. Apparently, Amie Donald did these things without any CGI or special effects, which is pretty hilarious if you think about it.
That’s not to say Allison Williams, the toy engineer and the proper lead, doesn’t pull off a really good performance. It’s more than just decent but does feel overshadowed by the other two. I also did like Ronnie Chieng as the CEO of the toy company as he gets to yell and get angry alot and there are some scenes where you can see some of the actors just holding back their laughter with how animated he gets sometimes. I will have to say the toy engineer’s two co-workers pull dull performances but I can’t really blame them. They only really are there to flesh out the toy engineer’s character and they are involved in one suspenseful scene. Otherwise, they could have been edited out from the final cut and it wouldn’t have mattered in the grand scheme of things.
Speaking of cuts, the overall editing of the movie comes off a little weird as I can’t help but feel there were some parts which were excised from the final cut of the film. Some subplots from the secondary characters aren’t really explored or come off as undercooked. There are also a few scenes where M3GAN starts playing music but it’s never established why she’s playing or singing that particular song. It just comes out of nowhere. I guess it’s there because it’s supposed to be creepy but it just took me out of the story as these scenes felt out of place. Despite this, I will say M3GAN’s overall story, specifically the main plot, is sewn together relatively well. There is definitely a nice progression between the relationships between the main players, making everyone feel believable despite the admittedly ridiculous premise.
I also have to commend the special effects team with how they did the entire film. Instead of relying on CGI, they used old-school methods and camera trickery. Like I mentioned, it’s mostly Amie Donald playing M3GAN but they also used a full-size M3GAN animatronic for the close-up shots. By mixing these shots together into one scene, it does give a really effective illusion that M3GAN is a real mechanical killer doll. I do wish more movies did this kind of thing instead of just CGI-ing the crap out of their films.
I really did find most of M3GAN’s 102-minute runtime enjoyable. It’s not all that long, making it a good way to pass the time. I will say the ending was a little unsatisfying as the climax did devolve into a lot of jump cuts and zoomed in shots, a sharp contrast with the cinematography from the slower scenes. In retrospect, most of the killings do use jump cuts and zoomed in shots a lot. It’s just a lot more noticeable in the final battle. It’s not a dealbreaker but I do wish it was shot so it was easier to follow what’s going on.
If you’re going into M3GAN thinking you’re going to be frightened by the gore or the premise, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. But if you just want a campy and silly horror film, well, Blumhouse has you covered with M3GAN. I say give it a watch if you’re more for the latter.
Have you seen M3GAN? What did you think of the film? Let me know in the comments section below!
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