A new movie that has made waves in the pop culture realm, specifically TikTok, is the film M3GAN. The film follows Gemma, a roboticist at a toy company who is given custody of her niece after the girl’s parents unexpectedly pass away. In an effort to create a new hot toy on the market, Gemma created an extremely high-tech robot called M3GAN. But when Gemma lets this doll into her and her niece’s lives, violence and danger ensue. Starring mostly smaller names in film, M3GAN has unexpectedly grossed $94.5 million worldwide, almost $80 million more than Babylon, another movie in theaters currently (starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt).
The film had lots of buzz surrounding it when the trailer was released, which showed the doll doing TikTok dances in a hallway while holding a knife. Many people on TikTok either deemed the movie as cringy or incredibly funny because of this seconds-long clip. The lack of seriousness that the film seemed to be taking made many people think that the movie wouldn’t be all that great.
But, to everyone’s surprise, M3GAN has received a mostly positive response from critics and casual viewers alike. With an astounding 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie has continued to shock viewers left and right. And, having seen the film myself, I have a few thoughts.
First off, this movie is incredibly entertaining and surely doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s like a mix of Scream and Annabelle with a touch of modern humor and technology. It definitely isn’t the most clever or innovative film of all time, but it’s an entertaining thriller film with some new and interesting aspects to it.
The overall plot isn’t incredibly original and the themes aren’t new in cinema. The dependence on technology and phones is heavily focused on in the film and is an extremely overused idea in lots of films released in the past 5-10 years. And, in terms of the plot, it’s not really anything new and is quite predictable at many points throughout the film. The acting is another incredibly underwhelming thing. Although, horror movies are never really known for the best acting performances of all time. In all honesty, this movie wouldn’t have been as enjoyable to me without the humor and campy nature of the movie.
What sets this movie apart from other horror movies is the humor and almost cringy attributes of the film. From M3GAN doing TikTok dances to randomly bursting into song at multiple points throughout the film, it’s obvious that this movie was meant to amuse and shock at the same time.
Overall, M3GAN was so close to becoming just another doll-centric horror film. But, it was the humor and nonsensical elements of the film that made it stand out and be very entertaining to me and many others who have seen it.