Smart but Stunted: 'M3GAN 2.0' Fails to Salvage a Tired Plot Despite Clever AI

The least that can be said for "M3GAN 2.0" is that it concerns itself with real things. Though it's more or less a comedy - as well as a cyber thriller and an action film - it's grounded in something serious: the threat posed by artificial intelligence.

The movie doesn't sugarcoat the situation. It stipulates that every technological advance since the beginning of time has been used for military purposes and then postulates what would happen when AI gets more advanced and more weaponized.

It also reminds us, in vivid terms, of what we already know - that we, as a species, are "catastrophically unprepared" for this and that capitalism won't save us. Indeed, this time the profit motive may be leading all of us off the proverbial cliff.

Further, almost in passing, it shows some of the dangerous seductions of AI such as a disabled man who can suddenly walk or a tech billionaire who becomes more productive thanks to a chip in his brain. Ever since the industrial revolution, every generation has needlessly worried that, in the future, technology will fundamentally change what it means to be human. But it's hard not to see how that concern will be proved valid, once people start lining up to become cyborgs.

So all this is to say that "M3GAN 2.0" is too smart and on target to be dismissed, and it's even more worthy of respect because it offers no obvious solution. It imagines a very-near future in which all the choices will be bad. (It would be interesting to see how this film is regarded in 50 years, assuming the AI overlords allow people to see it.)

More Information

"M3GAN 2.0": Sci-fi thriller. Starring Allison Williams and Violet McGraw. Directed by Gerard Johnstone. (PG-13. 119 minutes.) In theaters Friday, June 27.

But as a movie? As a work of entertainment? Eh, it's OK. It has a good opening, and then falls off. It never completely falls apart, but it's a close call.

Think "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" meets the "Venom" series. In the first film, "M3GAN," the eponymous AI doll was the menace. But this time, as in the second "Terminator," the former villain is now fighting on the side of humanity.

The current threat is Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno), an advanced AI machine that was developed by the U.S. military. Amelia has gone rogue, and her goal is to find her way to a motherlode of AI knowledge. Once she gets plugged into that, she will have the ability to destroy the world.

Have you already guessed where this is going? You have a rampaging, humanoid evil AI entity, and nothing can stop it, except for - maybe, if we're lucky - another rampaging, humanoid AI entity, working for the side of good.

This is essentially the story of "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" and about a dozen other superhero movies, with a climax involving two non-human entities battling it out for the future of the universe.

It's ironic that a movie so adventurous in its thinking should prove so imitative and pedestrian in its plotting, but that's what we have in "M3GAN 2.0."

Still, it has the benefit of being funny, although it gradually loses most of its humor in the second half. There are sight gags, wisecracks and unexpected pop culture allusions. (A reference to the Kate Bush song, "This Woman's Work," is particularly funny.)

It's a weird combination. "M3GAN 2.0" leaves you bored, but also leaves you thinking.

Mick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com

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