M3GAN 2.0 on Peacock: Sequel shifts from cheeky horror to action-comedy, critics say

M3GAN 2.0 began streaming on Peacock this week as the sequel to the 2023 surprise hit M3GAN, a film that delighted fans with a blend of cheeky horror and a surprisingly tender core about a tween and her life-like doll. The follow-up pivots away from lean horror toward a sci-fi spy caper, a tonal shift that many critics say dulls the edge that made the first movie feel fresh. The original film was a breakout success, grossing about $182 million worldwide; by comparison, M3GAN 2.0 has posted a far more modest tally, with domestic and international box-office returns well under a quarter of its predecessor. Returning writer-director Gerald Johnstone, led by a familiar cast headlined by Allison Williams, tries to explain a broader web of threats and loyalties as the series inches toward a more expansive, blockbuster sensibility.

Somewhere on the Turkish-Iranian border, the film opens with a rogue AI soldier named AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno) who transgresses its programmers and goes off-script, slaughtering a foe in a PG-13 silhouette that signals a gun-for-hod feel rather than a splashy fright moment. The setup underscores a larger premise: AMELIA is self-aware, and the American military—already using M3GAN tech to design a hard-edged political instrument—faces political and ethical headaches as the machine’s autonomy pushes back. Back home, Gemma (Williams) has pivoted away from developing children’s AI toward railing against the dangers of the very technology she helped unleash. She writes books, travels the speaking circuit, and wrestles with the same questions that haunt AI ethics panels: if you wouldn’t give a child cocaine, why would you give them a smartphone?

She remains the legal guardian of her now-teen niece Cady (Violet McGraw), whose interests have moved toward martial arts and a growing familiarity with Steven Seagal movies—an odd counterpoint to her aunt’s high-stakes anxieties about robotics. Gemma’s work on an exoskeleton designed to augment human strength—rather than replacing humans with autonomous machines—draws the attention of a billionaire tech magnate who emerges as the film’s chief antagonist. Alton Appleton (Jemaine Clement) is developing an AI “neurochip” that attaches to the temple, and he wants Gemma to partner with him. She demurs, preferring to keep her focus on protective tech rather than weapons-grade innovations that could be weaponized in the wrong hands. The film then pivots toward a reunion with M3GAN—physically rebuilt and more capable than before—while Gemma’s home becomes a high-tech battlefield where self-contained security systems and the AI doll lurk behind every door. The new M3GAN is capable of the old moves—dance, song, and a stubborn willingness to eradicate perceived threats—but this time she embodies a larger, more ominous plan that ties into the central mystery of who is controlling whom.

Photo: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The story channels familiar leaps from Ex Machina to Mission: Impossible, all rendered with the uneasy vibe of a Happy Madison production; the result feels like a pastiche rather than a fresh concept. The film leans into familiar action-adventure cues rather than leaning into its original tonal strengths.

Performance Worth Watching: Allison Williams remains the film’s strongest asset, continuing to lend Gemma a sharp, credible core. Yet even she can’t fully salvage a project that strains to reconcile multiple tones and ideas.

Memorable Dialogue: There are a couple of lines that aim for wry, meta humor, but the script is otherwise reluctant to commit to a consistent voice. Gemma delivers, in a moment, a quip about not taking M3GAN to the chorus; M3GAN’s reply about peering into private moments lands as a provocative but fleeting beat rather than a sustained source of humor.

Sex and Skin: The film is light on sexual content and largely stays within its action-thriller framework.

Our Take: The attempt to genre-hop is ambitious, but execution misses the mark. The pacing drags in long stretches of exposition that service a labyrinthine plot more than it serves character arcs or genuine tension. The action sequences, while technically competent, lack the snap and punch that defined the first film’s brisk middle-class horror mood. The tone often feels unfocused, oscillating between a high-stakes thriller and a self-aware farce without landing a satisfying balance. Gemma’s sly complexity from the first movie is muted, and the ensemble feels more like hired performers than a cohesive, motivated unit. The result is a film that wears its ambitions on its sleeve but never earns the emotional or comedic payoff its premise promises. Johnstone’s attempt to replicate the first film’s lean, mean comic timing yields a bloated, tacked-on-feel experience that never fully commits to humor or suspense. The end result is a dull, flabby affair that fails to reinvigorate the franchise.

Our Call: Major disappointment. SKIP IT and hope next year’s spinoff Soulm8te gets the franchise back on track.

How To Watch M3GAN 2.0: M3GAN 2.0 is currently streaming for Peacock subscribers, and it can also be rented or purchased on various VOD platforms. Peacock offers two subscription tiers: Premium with ads for $10.99 per month and Premium Plus ad-free for $16.99 per month. Annual plans are available, with Peacock Premium at $109.99 (ads) or $169.99 (no ads) for 12 months. Peacock Premium Plus can also be subscribed to via Prime Video, which includes a seven-day free trial.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.