VOD: M3GAN 2.0 (dir: Gerard Johnstone, 2025)

"We don't know how ugly these things are until it is too late."

This messy sequel to the disposable but fun 2023 hit finds aunt Gemma as an AI regulation crusader, sassy young Cady still haunted by the events of the first film and a new rogue killer military robot A.M.E.L.I.A. on the loose, necessitating the rebuilding of a vengeful and upgraded M3GAN to take it down.  In deliberately trying to broaden audience appeal owing to the zeitgeist popularity of the titular character, the violence is largely muted and tepid, disposable characters feel underdeveloped and there is plenty of self-important padding in some unnecessarily long scene.  The first act is largely an odd attempt at being a talky cyber-thriller, the second act is a convoluted introduction of a hidden and even bigger threat alongside the rebuilding of M3GAN, before the film finally evolves into a couple of sub-Mission: Impossible infiltration exercises with surprisingly little interaction between the two starring robots.  With a lacklustre script and lacking the simplicity and knowing cheesiness of the original film, M3GAN 2.0 fails to deliver on both fun and thrills and is largely disappointingly dull.