M3gan (2022) - 6/10

 The initial entries of reviews have favored action and mystery movies a bit so I wanted to switch it up and dive into some Horror. Despite the 6/10 score, I actually really enjoyed this techy spin on horror films. Over to the rubric. 

1. Acting

The cast of the film does a nice job of balancing out the scary but also silly elements of the plot. It may not be a showcase for anyone involved, but everyone is pulling their weight. 

Highlights include the two child actors. Violet McGraw shows some nice range for such a young actor and she carries about as much, if not more, of the plot than Williams. The casting director and team also made a smart move in casting Amie Donald and Jenna Davis to tag team M3gan. Davis' dry, robotic and at times funny voice acting for M3gan is reminiscent of the Child's Play films this movie clearly takes many cues from. Donald was also a smart decision in bringing the physicality of M3gan to life. Her dance background was an obvious asset to the filmmakers in crafting the inhuman ways in which M3gan moves throughout the film.

2. Cinematography

The cinematography is certainly serviceable in the film and the warmer and brighter colors than your typical horror film highlight the more playful tone of this film. 

3. Production/Costume Design

The most crucial aspect of making this film work was always going to be in the design of M3gan. Working heavily in conjunction with the VFX team, the production team developed several fully animatronic versions of M3gan to help bring the story to life. Every detail of M3gan is also important and was designed specifically to trigger the uncanny valley. Her costume, makeup, skin, hair - all of it needed to ride a thin line between human and alien and I think they nailed it.

4. Writing

The plot of M3gan is basically 'what if the Child's Play reboot had actually worked'. Putting an AI based spin on the classic tale of murder doll come to life is a nice pull to bring in some modern audiences, but is ultimately an unoriginal endeavor. I imagine the writing team knew this to some degree as well. To help, it seems, they chose to inject a good deal of intentional sillyness into each page and it helps keep the cliche still feel entertaining. Just because a plot is predictable does not mean it is automatically bad - but maybe it does doom it to a lower ceiling. 

The other thing to consider here is that the original cut was given an R-rating and the film was altered in reshoots to tone down the violence in favor of a PG-13 rating. This decision probably robbed the film of some of its grittier/bloodier tendencies which may have weakened the final product.

5. Sound Design

I think the robotic sound cues were nicely executed here and helps sell M3gan's androidness. However, the real strength of the films from a sound design aspect is its really weird soundtrack. Mixing original scores with an odd array of borrowed songs from artists like Taylor Swift, David Guetta and Skatt Band worked really well. M3gan singing Titanium and the hallway dance featuring Walk The Night steal the show.

6. Editing

Integrated well with the VFX and cinematography teams, but nothing specific stood out. 

7. Visual Effects

A lot of the films heavy lifting again comes back to making M3gan seem as real and fake as possible at the same time. The VFX teams employed a variety of techniques to include animatronics, CGI doubles, and face replacements. As with other movies that feature robots, they tried to create a visual language for depicting M3gan's inner workings to include shot overlays that show her scanning things as well as how here eyes move to absorb information. Everything here was well executed and important.

8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation

As I mentioned before, the doll-come-to-life tale is not a new story by any means. The only real difference here was the AI twist and even that had been attempted before. So while there is no points for originality here, at least the final produce was well done. 

9. Stunt Coordination

A big part of reaching into the Uncanny Valley was going to hinge on creating how M3gan moves in the film. The choreography was nicely done here and was also thoughtful. They seems to have considered everything here and it runs a full range from M3gan's well known dance kill scene, to some of the smaller elements like how she sits, how she moves her head and her walk. 

10. Direction

 Gerard Johnstone doesn't have a particularly long filmography over his career, especially for US audiences. But the New Zealand based writer/director has shown that he may be someone to keep an eye on in the future.

Legacy/Final Thoughts

M3gan will likely not have the staying power of its main inspiration Child's Play, but it did seem to have a nice moment in the spotlight for being something different. Blumhouse may not be A24 in term of consistency of content, but has proven over the last 25 years to be a studio willing to take risks on small budget genre films that are trying to create something interesting. M3gan's legacy may therefore just be another feather in the independent film subcategory that shows studio's can still make lots of money by trusting creative teams with a vision.