The idea of rogue AI fascinates me and creeps me out in equal amounts. We have become reliant on technology for more things than ever. I don’t doubt most people in the Western world have at least one piece of Smart technology.

Here are my thoughts on the movie M3GAN, an AI that goes rogue to protect her “friend”.

Plot

After 8-year-old Cady loses her parents in a tragic car accident, she goes to live with her aunt Gemma. Gemma is a roboticist at a high-tech toy company called Funki. Unbeknownst to her boss, Gemma and her team are working on M3GAN. M3GAN is a robotic human-looking doll powered by AI. M3GAN is programmed to be the ultimate companion for young children, teaching them about the world and science and being their friend.

After finding it hard to bond with Cady, Gemma finds common ground with a robot she previously designed called Bruce. Based on how much Cady enjoyed seeing Bruce, Gemma became motivated to finish M3GAN. The prototype bonded to Cady and Gemma uses their budding relationship as part of tech demos.

My thoughts

Initially, I made the mistake of expecting something akin to Chucky and the Child’s Play franchise. It almost impacted how much I enjoyed this movie. Despite both franchises using a doll as their antagonist, they share few similarities.

M3GAN as a character is incredible. I loved her design. I found her appearance creepy, and she looks like a doll wouldn’t, but she isn’t overly cartoonish. I read that M3GAN’s creation involved puppets and animatronics, and an actress even played her during long shots! The development of her abilities also played out well. She acted like a standard AI with robot movement and speech. She went on to develop sentience and behave in human-like ways.

My favourite character in the movie was Gemma. Her character developed from struggling to bond with anything outside of her work to become a parental figure for Cady. She also learned the importance of not overly relying on technology when raising children. Technology has many benefits, but it can also be a distraction. Cady had lost her parents. These are emotions that even adults would struggle to grasp. Between Gemma’s inability to connect with her and her later reliance on Megan, she was suppressing emotions.

I feel that parents can find it hard to find the right balance when allowing their children to use technology. While I’m not a parent myself, I’ve dealt with issues using my time with it productively. Overall, Megan is a decent movie that’s worth a watch.

Have you watched M3GAN?

One thought on “I watched M3GAN!”

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