M3GAN (2023)

★★★
M3GAN's message is not subtle. A sense of discomfort came over me as I watched it, because I knew it was so right. Children (and some adults too) have become too enamored with iDevices and the like to the point that it might as well be an addiction. Not only that, but such inventions are too easy for parents to give to their children as a substitute for a babysitter or as a substitute for themselves when they feel they come up short in some facet of their role. What does the future hold with conditions such as these? A child psychiatrist in the movie provides the answer: the inability for children to form lasting relationships with real people. We're not quite there yet, but if artificial intelligence evolves to the point that a M3GAN doll becomes reality, then this movie provided a cautionary tale of what could happen. One of the founders of Facebook admitted that the whole purpose of the "Like" button was to get users to crave the satisfaction that comes with the "Like" notification, which induces a dopamine release that the body will want again and again. M3GAN is basically walking around and hitting the user's "Like" button in real time.

Gemma (Allison Williams) is an engineer with a major toy company that produces Furby-like stuffed animals with giant eyeballs and superior speaking skills. Her immediate job is to work on a cheaper version of these toys, but she dreams of making something bigger and better than anything else available on the market: an interactive doll with lifelike features and possessing artificial intelligence. Her boss David (Ronny Chieng) would rather she devote her attention to the task at hand, but her opportunity to make her dream a reality arrives in the form of her niece Cady (Violet McGraw), who just lost her parents in an automobile accident. Gemma is ill-equipped to provide any emotional support for Cady, since she has dedicated herself to her career and has set aside no time to start a family. Cady is emotionally distraught and proves difficult for Gemma to handle. In a desperate attempt to find a solution, Gemma goes all in on her side project to create the perfect interactive doll.

M3GAN is the result and is hit with Gemma's team and even David, who puts the doll on the fast track to a corporate unveiling. M3GAN's ability to comprehend situations and respond as necessary immediately soothes the troubled Cady, who sees in her new companion not just a toy but a friend who understands her. Gemma sees her job as guardian fulfilled. M3GAN is indeed an impressive piece of machinery. It can walk, engage in conversations and compute solutions to problems. Those problems start with Cady's emotional state, but extend to a troublesome neighbor and her dog and a day camp with a bully. The doll takes on the traits of Child's Play's Chucky and Kristy Swanson's character from Deadly Friend with its malicious nature and obligation to defend its human. Trouble ensues when the doll evolves into a killing machine. Gemma's hubris is a common theme that is explored in fiction about inventors who create something without realizing the danger of their innovation. This movie takes aim at the tempting proposition of occupying the time of an impressionable mind, resulting in the difficult inevitability of separating the user from the toy.

The doll itself is a marvelous design. It looks like a doll that talks rather than a creepy toy that no kid would realistically want. (Who would actually want that clown from Poltergeist?) It occupies the same space as the actors seamlessly. Despite its design, it is extremely agile, as we observe when it adjusts its posture to chase a kid. I loved the end, where we get a fight scene that reminded me of Ripley's forklift fight against the alien queen. Allison Williams is perfectly up to the task of playing a brilliant engineer while feeling inadequate at parenting. When the moment of realization arrives—when she understands the truth about her creation—she communicates her concerns through body language and facial gestures. She's terrific. Violet McGraw as young Cady expresses her character's wide range of emotions flawlessly. Cady is traumatized over her parent's death, but she has to swing from sadness to elation to contentment to anger in the course of the story, and McGraw has the acting chops to pull off these emotions convincingly.

Co-story writer James Wan has come a long way from directing Saw, proving himself to be an indispensable talent who can navigate big-budget action movies (Furious 7) and return to his roots with sold projects like M3GAN. The director is Gerard Johnstone, who crafts a well-rounded thriller with a skeptical eye towards emerging technologies and their possible contribution to social ineptitude. I had my cool little gizmos when I was young. The Atari 5200 was a neat system for its time, but kids back then could put the controls down and go outside to find enjoyment too. I don't see kids outside these days unless it's for organized sports. Is there something today—a precursor to M3GAN perhaps—that is filling a role far beyond simply being a toy? The M3GAN we see here adapts to the situation, which prevents it from becoming boring like some toys do. I'll go ahead and hit the "Like" button for M3GAN for making a villain out of its walking, talking "Like" button pusher.

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