“Welcome aboard, passengers. Just so you know, we are expecting some turbulence this evening, so please ensure your seat belts are fastened, baggage is safely stowed, and hold on to your vaginas.”
– M3GAN in M3GAN 2.0.
A single tale does not an icon make, but this is less of a rule than a guideline. There have been plenty of characters whose composition and presentation inspired audiences to latch on and raise them up as if they’d been leading a franchise for some time. In recent memory, this has applied to two different cinematic characters created by co-writer Akela Cooper and James Wan: Gabriel in Malignant (2021) and M3GAN in M3GAN (2022). While no follow-up has occurred for the denigrated Gabriel, killer android M3GAN returned to theaters with director Gerard Johnstone (serving as writer, too,) and cast returning in a film that sought to upgrade the horror vibes to something more action-based, simultaneously turning the antagonist into an anti-hero in the process. If this is your type of swag, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) is once more releasing a home edition that includes both theatrical and unrated editions as well as several bonus features to help excited fans discover just how digital and tangible artistry combined to create the world of M3GAN.
L-R: Allison Williams as Gemma and M3GAN in M3GAN 2.0, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo Credit: Universal Pictures. © 2025 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
When an A.I. companion, M3GAN (Amie Donald/Jenna Davis (voice)), turns murderous as it seeks to comply with its programming to protect its target, the creator’s niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), creator Gemma (Allison Williams) pivots toward ethical technological use to the point of over-correction. Not only goes Gemma place a tighter rein on Cady’s screen time and encourage real-life activities, she works tirelessly with Christian Bradley’s (Aristotle Athari) tech foundation to develop a coalition of countries to establish and enact policies to ensure that what happened to them with M3GAN doesn’t happen to anyone else. But when a special section of the government learns that their A.I.-based operative AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno) has gone rogue, not only will Gemma have to switch from policy back to action, she may have to reboot and upgrade M3GAN in order to stop AMELIA and protect Cady.
The following home release review is based on a Blu-ray retail copy provided by UPHE.
Though somewhat charmed by the marketing for the first M3GAN, it’s a cinematic adventure this reviewer hasn’t experienced. This allows my perspective to come solely from this entry in what’s likely going to be the first of — at minimum — a trilogy, even if 2.0 didn’t land with audiences as hoped. (My guess, audiences weren’t expecting such a The Terminator (1984) to Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) pivot despite the very clear marketing indicating it or that this film swung for camp and mostly misses.) That said, it’s entertaining enough and the charm it possesses, mostly via Davis’s vocal performance, gives the rounded edges just enough sharpness to warrant spending time in this world.
L-R: M3GAN and Ivanna Sakhno as AMELIA in M3GAN 2.0, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo Credit: Universal Pictures. © 2025 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Admittedly, it’s all pretty rote, which is the more disappointing element of the film, but it’s the box that’s been created for it due to audience reaction to M3GAN herself. Puppets exhibiting some kind of synthetic intelligence isn’t exactly new nor is it the first-time antagonists have swapped teams (see: Puppet Master series; Terminator series), which is one way to breathe life into characters when being villainous isn’t enough or when a stronger protagonist is introduced. T2, for instance, is iconic for a number of reasons and the relationship between young John Connor (Edward Furlong) and his reprogrammed Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the central component. Here, however, the conflict is between Gemma and M3GAN who continue to vie for Cady, who continue to grapple with what it means to provide protection for the now-tween. The script gets interesting when it wrestles with the creator-creation/parent-child dynamic that exists between Gemma and M3GAN and less so when it pivots to the action. This is not just because this provides easy lay-ups for M3GAN’s frequently hilarious sass, but because, amid the pseudo-philosophical posturing about whether A.I. is good or bad, there’s an honest to goodness interesting argument over the role of the creator as responsible for their progeny, the importance of contextual learning, the significance of flexible thinking for minds old and young, and taking control of one’s fate. To borrow from James Cameron’s T2 (such as this does), “there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”
The bonus features primarily delve into the action and special effects of the film (specifically the merging of puppetry and actor performance), so if this a big reason you get excited about 2.0, get ready. In the 11-minute “Total Upgrade: Making M3GAN 2.0,” cast and crew members discuss transitioning from horror/thriller to action, the work of creating this sequel, and favorite aspects of it. The seven-minute featurette “Droid DNA” drills into AMELIA and M3GAN, focusing specifically on what makes them unique in this entry. The eight-minute “The Art of Slaying” continues this focus on both characters while focusing on their different iterations, the looks of them, and the physicality of bringing them to life. In the single scene breakdown included with the release, the five-minute “Embrace AI Convention” highlights the work the crew put in to create the physical space of the faux convention, as well as crafting the brief M3GAN dance sequence (and costume).
With recent revelations that A.I. like Grok is feeding itself what’s on Twitter (now known as X) thereby making additions to its official dataset an ouroboros of slop, cringe, and brain rot which should destroy its efficacy, and that services like OpenAI refuses to acknowledge how their works are entirely infringing on copyright (and don’t see the problem), we are likely a long way from the types of concerns of A.I. takeover that these films posit for tension purposes. It’s not that A.I. doesn’t have its uses, but the designers are so lacking in the arts, that their sciences are ill-equipped to construct a new reality. Instead, it’s just a churn of what is already online without the actually intelligence to discern truth from fabrication, creating a slurry of results without consciousness or consideration.
What does this have to do with M3GAN 2.0?
L: Director Gerard Johnstone on the set of M3GAN 2.0. Photo Credit: Kirsty Griffin/Universal Pictures. © 2025 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
We can continue to perceive films like M3GAN 2.0 as delightful entertainment because the people in charge are perhaps less intelligent than perceived as only the fictional creators seem to have explored the humanities in their pursuit of crafting autonomous A.I. whereas the current “best and brightest” either skipped it entirely or relied too hard on Cliff’s Notes to be able to synthesize the warnings of the greatest minds of art and philosophy who cautioned against creating synthetic life without safeguards or understanding whereas Gemma possesses an ethical perspective based on a more well-rounded perspective, even if still struggling to see the forest for the trees. One doesn’t have to wonder if Gemma have ever read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, whereas, in the real world, we can almost guarantee that, if they have read the book, they missed the entire damn point.
M3GAN 2.0 Special Features:
- Total Upgrade: Making M3GAN 2.0 (11:18)
- Droid DNA (7:38)
- The Art of Slaying (8:05)
- Scene Breakdown: Embrace AI Convention (5:03)
- Unrated Edition (2:00:45)
Available on digital July 13th, 2025.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD September 23rd, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Universal Pictures M3GAN 2.0 website.
To purchase, head to the official Universal Pictures Home Entertainment M3GAN 2.0 webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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