M3GAN (2022)

Summary: When nine year old Cady survives a car accident which kills her parents she is given into the care of her aunt Gemma, who is a robotics developer  for the Funki  toy company. They have Furby like creations but want more. Gemma finds Cady a handful but fortunately she is developing a child robot companion, which is completed with help in record time. The robot “M3gan” (Model 3 Generative Android),  and Cady bond and the girl becomes reliant on the robot. However when next doors dog savages Cady, biting her arm, we see M3gan take action and the dog disappears. Meanwhile the existence of M3gan is revealed to the Funki senior management and a big event is scheduled. But the police are investigating two murders which somehow involve Gemma. How will it all pan out?

Content: No sex or nudity, or drinking smoking or drug taking. There is some violence which is toned down apparently to get the PG-13 classification. Dog lovers might be distressed at the events concerning the dog. We see M3gan gradually developing her capabilities since she is programmed to learn about the real world. Cady become dependent on her and aggressive when she is not there. The robot is just a bit creepy and in time is able to replicate other people’s voices in a way which will keep reminding us of The Terminator. And despite the PG-13 classification the violence is considerable.

A View: By now we are well into a new view of the robot, where the Isaac Asimov three laws of robotics have been discarded. Indeed in the filmic world it seems that robots are more likely to do harm than good. So while there is nothing particularly new about M3gan, indeed it seems to be relying on our familiarity with Chucky, AI and The Terminator, it is fun. My wife and I laughed out loud once at a particularly entertaining bit of swearing. It is slyly entertaining and worth the price of your ticket.

There are some real classics in the film world of robots. If you have not seen The Terminator it is essential viewing, but the original Robocop comes out a close second of the more modern offerings Ex Machina is worth a view.