Included in this article Major spoilers For “M3GAN 2.0”.
The sequel is a tricky outlook, a truth that most movie fans know well these days. Franchises have become such a fortress of the film industry over the past few decades, but the same fundamental issues continue to arise as story continuity. So how do you tell the story of both a continuation of what came before and something that feels exciting and new? Movies can’t (and should not) be television. This issue is barely present thanks to having a much lower stake for one episode of the ongoing series. With films, the audience is asked to physically return to the theatre and spend more money to watch their favourite characters (and/or the universe in which they live) return.
Luckily, the franchise’s filmmakers have something like North Star in the form of writer/director James Cameron. Over his 43-year career, Cameron has been involved in part or six sequels, starting with his debut, “Piranha II: The Spawning,” and continuing his winter “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Of these, he is the epitome of the 1991 form of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. “Alien” and “Rambeau: First Blood Part II” also employ the “script” structure that Cameron uses in “T2”, but the latter film perfectly completes it (after almost sinking by the first bad idea).
“T2” helped give subsequent filmmakers confidence to continue in a whole new direction where they can see a variety of things in the film, such as “Riddick’s Chronicle” and “Happy Death Day 2U.” The latest example, this month’s “M3GAN 2.0,” is a little more obvious than most of the homage to “T2.” However, writer/director Gerald Johnston (who works from the story of Akela Cooper, who co-wrote the original “M3GAN”), has clearly learned all the right lessons from one of the best sci-fi sequels ever made, as M3Gan 2.0 shows.
M3GAN has become a hero, like the T-800 in Terminator 2
The most obvious “T2” homage to “M3GAN 2.0” is also the easiest. Both sequels pull away from the neat trick of making the villain the first film a hero. Ironically, both series are about perceptual humanoid robots, but this switch has not reached the same way. In the original “The Terminator,” the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is thoroughly destroyed at the end of the film. However, since he is the same model for the Terminator as the first film and was reprogrammed only by a future John who will be sent in time as the guardian of his younger self, this T-800 has enough similarity to have emotional weight to the original Terminator of Switchloo.
Meanwhile, “M3Gan 2.0” reveals from the beginning that M3GAN (played by Amie Donald and Jenna Davis) in the film is the same character. M3GAN was thought to have been destroyed after the first film, but it turns out that she found a way to keep her source code alive, unknown to her creator, Gemma (Alison Williams), or the girl she was paired with, Kady (Violet McGro). In the first film, M3GAN experienced a murderous evolution of self-awareness similar to HAL 9000 (or other “children’s plays”), but “M3GAN 2.0” continues and deepens the theme of the first film of parenting responsibility by assuming that M3GAN is inherently “raised” rather than inappropriately, rather than evil by Gemma, who realizes that M3GAN is a replaced parent. Therefore, the sequel M3GAN is a more mature individual and her growth rivals Cady’s younger teenager now.
Thus, Gemma and Caddy decide to become a kind of Gemma and Keddy family when they discover that the secret government android assassin is on a mission to eliminate all those responsible for the name Amelia (Ivanna Safno) (created thanks to someone stealing Gemma’s research). The change is more character-based, but it has resonated throughout the film. Just like how “T2” transformed “Terminator” action horror into a purer sci-fi action, it’s a more sci-fi and anime-inspired action, leaving M3GAN 2.0 “Living Doll” horror.
M3GAN 2.0 Eco Terminator 2 Character Development and Technological Slightly
However, he is not the only character who will receive further development in the sequel. In addition to growing up, becoming more independent and stronger (literally and figuratively), Gemma finds a reconciliation with his old nemesis m3gan when he is temporarily embedded in the former brain. It’s a dynamic that reminds me of Sarah Connor’s learning to respect the reprogrammed T-800. Furthermore, as Sarah discovers that when she tries to assassinate Skynet architect Miles Dyson (Joe Morton), she is about to become a Terminator, Gemma is at one point strengthened with a force like M3GAN, further blurring the line between her former Nemms-turned adoptive mother.
The concept is given to the interests of the major themes featured in both “T2” and “M3GAN 2.0”. This takes a more subtle look at the unidentified AI issues. On “Judgment Day,” machines created in the future on behalf of the incorrect AI program Skynet are still considered enemies, but when blindness is considered in regards to the continued nature of humanity, and the application of new technology, morality is less cut and not dry. As the first “M3GAN” tackles some preliminary questions about the rise of AI as a daily assistant, “2.0” dives further into the discussion of unregulated usage and ramp-prolonged spread. That conclusion may not be satisfying for anyone, but it fits the theme of the series’ humanity needs to be responsible parents of its creation. It’s Mary Shelley as much as James Cameron.
M3GAN 2.0 has a much more plot and tone appearance than T2, but while this article doesn’t even touch on the ongoing elements of camp or satire that carry on from the original, using Cameron’s film as a template proves that it is still feasible as an original sequel. In an industry that is obsessed with IP, you are still looking to source materials. “M3Gan 2.0” skillfully repeats the “Terminator 2” mantra.
