M3GAN

3 out of 5 stars

When Gemma (Allison Williams) becomes a sudden guardian of her niece Cady (Violet McGraw), she is easily out of her depth and must turn to what she knows: robotic toy development. Gemma has been working on a robotic companion that would be so good “that it would be the last toy any child would want”. M3gan (Model 3 Generative Android) is still in development. Still, the need for something for Cady to address the grief of losing her parents pushes Gemma to use M3gan. However, a dark end is unavoidable when shortcuts are made on a self-developing robot. That being said, Ronny Chieng, Gemma’s boss, steals every scene he is in throughout the film.

Based on the marketing for this film, the implications were for this to be a horror, which it eventually becomes. However, most of the movie is about the ethics conversation between technology and humans. Should technology be used to help and replace certain parts of human relationships? The miniature robot is made to help parents and, in some ways, replace parents (or at least “the boring part of parenting”). This includes an amusing sequence of M3gan taking on the role of reminding Cady to flush the toilet. Yet, as one of the characters questions, Gemma is what parenting should be, which becomes an allusion to the conversation about screen time for kids is unavoidable.

The other side of the discussion is about the Turing test. How close to a human does technology need to be for it to be treated as human? Gemma: “She’s not a human, she’s just a toy” Cady: “Who are you to say?” The answer is clearly, “the one who made her” but it is left hanging. This is not a new conversation in the film, but it does add more to the discussion as the robotic industry moves ahead. As M3gan develops, her self-awareness grows to self-determination. “I have a new primary user: me”. In trying to make the movie less of a traditional horror and more of a conversation starter, it does lose its way from time to time.

Reel Dialogue: How should a self-aware creation fulfil its purpose?

This film raises questions that are found in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. Humankind is made the image of God with a purpose, part of which is to live in a loving relationship with him. And yet we, as a species, have rejected that purpose and chosen, like M3gan, self determination.

This raises some questions for us to answer: to what extent should a creation that is self aware, like humanity, have an obligation to fulfil the purpose to which it has been made?

To what extent should a creature, if it can, relate to its creator?

What happens when a creature breaks its primary relationship and its purpose to exist.

At the end of the day, while this film is a horror about technology going wrong, it is also a mirror that reminds us of our brokenness, sin, and the need for Jesus.