Does 'M3GAN 2.0' Live Up To Its Unorthodox Marketing Strategy?

M3GAN 2.0 is promising to be something very different from its predecessor. Through its trailers, posters, and interviews, M3GAN 2.0 is attempting to preemptively become a cult classic by marketing directly to LGBTQ+ audiences. The film was released one June 27, so now we can finally find out if it lives up to the hype it’s worked so hard for. Or, to put it simply, is M3GAN “still that B”?

Many horror movies are deemed “camp” in retrospect, but few have set out to claim that title for themselves quite like M3GAN 2.0. Produced by Blumhouse and directed by Gerard Johnstone, M3GAN 2.0 is the sequel to 2022’s M3GAN, a horror film with comedy elements that was released to mixed reviews. While the horror frequently fell flat, the funnier (mostly unintentionally so) elements went viral, and the film made a place for itself on the outskirts of queer culture (it was even parodied on "RuPaul's Drag Race"). The marketing for the sequel has taken this into account, using a blindingly pink aesthetic and a trailer chock-full of one liners in an effort to infuse everything that went well in the first film into a full 90 minutes of sequel. The trailers alone use both Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon” and Britney Spears's “Oops…I Did It Again”, two anthems in the LGBTQ+ community. 

The character of M3GAN herself, a bloodthirsty AI doll whose only objective is keeping 8-(now 12)-year-old Cady safe, has taken on a life of her own, even participating in interviews with internet celebrities such as Trisha Paytas. Every aspect of M3GAN’s characterization in the sequel is an obvious attempt to align her with other iconic “divas”, from her no-nonsense attitude and feminine style to her sassy quips and superhuman dance moves.

But the question remains: does M3GAN 2.0 deliver on its ambitious promise to be an instant classic among the queer community? Yes and no. The film certainly delivers on its genre shift from horror-comedy to full action-comedy, bringing in brighter visuals and stronger self-awareness. M3GAN 2.0 easily gets a few laughs out of its audience and is thoroughly engaging in theaters, moving quickly through its plot and fitting in wild dialogue and jokes at every turn. However, the 2-hour runtime brings a level of complexity to the narrative and emotional arcs to the characters that end up feeling misplaced and perhaps too ambitious. Additionally, while stories about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence are more necessary than ever, perhaps fitting such heavy themes into the fabric of a movie like M3GAN 2.0 isn’t the right move when it’s been so thoroughly marketed as nothing more than a “good time”, and AI is a more serious topic than ever. 

In the end, M3GAN 2.0 rose from messy beginnings and took the best direction it could, ending up a perfectly fun and ironic action-comedy that can’t help but create a few more viral moments before it's inevitably lost to time.

M3GAN 2.0 is in theatres now!