Dracula
CS! Gold
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Post by Dracula on Jul 15, 2023 8:46:59 GMT -5
M3gan(3/4/2023)  M3gan was something of a surprise hit when it opened in the first week of January and went on to make almost a hundred million dollars (domestic) on a rather modest budget and it got pretty decent reviews too, albeit hedged reviews that mostly seemed to just be surprised this January release had anything going for it at all (that it was a bit of a silly little break from covering this endless award season also likely helped a bit). Personally I got to it late and with slightly higher expectations as a result… the movie is, fine. The film’s story is fairly predictable if you’ve seen the trailer and the basic story is almost identical to the recent 2019 remake of Child’s Play (smart toy decides to protect the child they’re assigned to by killing perceived threats) but there’s maybe a bit more of an edge of slight satire here. The film kind of functions as a timely rebuke of A.I. in the age of ChatGPT, though that was likely unintentional given the timing. Instead this is probably meant to be more of a statement about the way technology affects children who are exposed to it at a very young age, like kids being “raised” by iPads handed to them to keep them distracted by their busy parents. There’s something to that but this isn’t necessarily the most elegant or subversive version of that idea. It’s also not particularly effective as a horror movie. I actually watched the “unrated” version of the movie that’s currently streaming on Peacock but it still seemed pretty damn tame and didn’t really engage very seriously in suspense filmmaking. There’s enough here to make M3gan a passable enough viewing experience, but I can’t say it’s left me too interested in the inevitable sequels or future work from this filmmaker. *** out of Five |
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jul 16, 2023 17:02:40 GMT -5
Oh yeah, this movie certainly has a decent amount of goofy fun in the way it executes on the killer doll premise. Though it really could've benefitted a bit more from an R rating. However, that's not the main reason why Megan works. No, it works because it's a killer doll movie built largely around a more grounded story about a woman trying her best to relate to and care for her orphaned niece. That throughline gives the movie a solid core that it's able to hang its killer doll hook on, and as a result, both things compliment and enhance one another. That and the movie often has a good, dark sense of humor. Another solid hit for Blumhouse.
***/****
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PG Cooper
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Join Date: Feb 2009
And those who tasted the bite of his sword named him...The DOOM Slayer
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Post by PG Cooper on Jul 22, 2023 11:08:57 GMT -5
M3GAN's high concept premise of a smart doll horror villain is quite similar to the 2019 Child's Play remake and here's a hot take for you, I think I prefer the latter. That movie had its problems - and studio horror remakes always invite pushback - but it also had gore. I'm not someone who demands bloodletting in my horror movies, but when you're essentially making a slasher about a killer doll, a bit of the red stuff goes a long way, especially when certain characters are explicitly designed as unlikable douchebags to be fed to the villain. More generally, M3GAN barely tries to scare its audience at all, content instead to coast off a winking zaniness rather than build actual suspense, but it's no Malignant. The glimmers of M3GAN dancing from the trailer are about as weird as things get.
To the film's credit, the glimmers of satire do inject some humour to the proceedings which mostly land and the whole is certainly watchable, but it never actually lives up to its premise and is ultimately quite forgettable.
C
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