Gerard Johnstone
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Connections, in both directions
Drawing inspiration from films like Mission: Impossible, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the Austin Powers trilogy, it is clear that director Gerard Johnstone took a loose approach to the script.
Plotwise it’s basically a remake of “Terminator 2,” the movie that saw a revamped T-800 protect young John Connor from the new and improved T-1000 (Robert Patrick).
M3GAN 2.0 fully drains Terminator 2: Judgment Day to such a clumsy degree…
What forces her to quit being the ghost in the machine is the ol’ Terminator 2 of an even more deadly version of herself called AMELIA (Sakhno).
So, I knew there was a chance she would get the Terminator 2: Judgment Day redemption arc.
It’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day by way of a Hot Topic fashion line and TikTok choreography…
Child's Play (1988)
Directed by Tom Holland
influenced M3GAN 2.0 (2025), M3GAN (2022)
Themes Characters Plot
This sequel feels light-years away from what horror films like Child’s Play or Dolls achieved—stories where the danger felt personal, small-scale, and genuinely creepy.
Unlike Child’s Play’s Chucky, who had no loyalties and therefore could continue to travel and maim and murder in numerous sequels and spin-offs…
And like her spiritual forebear Chucky, she’s got the range.
The titular android is now the hero of the story, and like Chucky, has begun morphing into a comedian.
…even though the similar idea of Chucky from the CHILD’S PLAY franchise proved it could be done with six films and even a spin-off TV series…
Think less “Child’s Play,” more “Terminator 2.”
Metropolis (1927)
Directed by Fritz Lang
influenced M3GAN 2.0 (2025), M3GAN (2022)
Visuals Characters
…whereas AMELIA is a grown woman with visual references to “Metropolis” (1927) and “Ex Machina” (2014).
A well-placed Metropolis (dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) homage in her character design serves as a subtle reminder that the themes the film is exploring are nothing new.
…her look modeled on "Metropolis's" Maria in her natural state…
…like one action beat that’s essentially a dream match between Maria from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Battle Angel Alita’s titular cyborg.
…fun nods to Metropolis, THX-1138, and the Terminator films…
Can Johnstone slip in a “Metropolis” reference for Amelia without getting caught?
…a neuro-implanted tech bro who feels like he’s walked straight out of a parody of Black Mirror by way of Austin Powers…
…it emerged under the direction of Gerard Johnstone as a simple Black Mirror-esque tale about a scientist…
…this sequel is Terminator 2 by way of Black Mirror…
…finding a foothold by rising above its Black Mirror vibe…
The Terminator (1984)
Directed by James Cameron
influenced M3GAN (2022), M3GAN 2.0 (2025)
Themes Plot
M3GAN 2.0 is basically a mashup of The Terminator (I dunno, pick one) with Mission Impossible (any one will do) with some dancing, some killing, and a song or two.
Gemma has pivoted her focus toward AI safety, now working with the government—and a new boyfriend, Christian (Aristotle Athari)—to ensure AI tech can’t go full Terminator again.
…somewhere between Small Wonder and The Terminator…
While the lively 2022 hit M3GAN sampled some DNA from The Terminator…
If, with its relentless killbot, M3gan was a little like James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984)…
…becoming a sci-fi action-comedy, like the Temu version of Terminator…
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Directed by Jay Roach
influenced M3GAN 2.0 (2025)
Visuals Characters
It is obvious that while the narrative’s whole concept is a cross between an international spy thriller and a Terminator-esque Judgment Day, it also feels like a cheeky reprise to the “Austin Powers” killer sex bots while clinging to its rating.
Somehow, what he pulls together is like an Austin Powers film that takes itself a little too earnestly…
Drawing inspiration from films like Mission: Impossible, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the Austin Powers trilogy, it is clear that director Gerard Johnstone took a loose approach to the script.
…a neuro-implanted tech bro who feels like he’s walked straight out of a parody of Black Mirror by way of Austin Powers…
More than just a Child’s Play or Orphan rip-off — no matter how inevitable the comparisons are — this is a film beholden to concept more than formula, which is the key to its many delights.
For one thing, it’s hamstrung by a PG-13 rating which prevents it from being as nasty as one senses it might be (the high water mark for this sort of film remains Jaume Collet-Serra’s Orphan, and I fear the window may have already closed in which a major studio might release a film capable of competing).
Wan no oculta que estamos frente a una cruza entre La Mala Semilla ( The Bad Seed , 1956), de Mervyn LeRoy, Las Esposas de Stepford ( The Stepford Wives , 1975), de Bryan Forbes, Chucky: El Muñeco Diabólico ( Child’s Play , 1988), de Tom Holland, Hardware (1990), de Richard Stanley, y La Huérfana ( Orphan , 2009), de Jaume Collet-Serra, e incluso coquetea con el slasher una vez que nuestra muñeca tuneada avant-garde desata su furia contra todos aquellos que amenazan física o psicológicamente a Cady, como el perro de la vecina Celia (Lori Dungey), un animal que se abalanza contra el androide y la niña cuando ambos osan entrar en la morada contigua, o un purrete psicópata llamado Brandon (Jack Cassidy), quien “viola” simbólicamente a M3GAN -esto es el mainstream yanqui, casi todo está vedado para lograr una baja calificación por edad para el estreno masivo en salas- cuando se lleva a la muñeca, la tira al suelo, le saca un zapato, la golpea en la cara e incluso le agarra el pelo, ganándose q…
The kind of thriller which echoes the likes of The Bad Seed (1956) and The Good Son (1993).
Wan no oculta que estamos frente a una cruza entre La Mala Semilla ( The Bad Seed , 1956), de Mervyn LeRoy, Las Esposas de Stepford ( The Stepford Wives , 1975), de Bryan Forbes, Chucky: El Muñeco Diabólico ( Child’s Play , 1988), de Tom Holland, Hardware (1990), de Richard Stanley, y La Huérfana ( Orphan , 2009), de Jaume Collet-Serra, e incluso coquetea con el slasher una vez que nuestra muñeca tuneada avant-garde desata su furia contra todos aquellos que amenazan física o psicológicamente a Cady, como el perro de la vecina Celia (Lori Dungey), un animal que se abalanza contra el androide y la niña cuando ambos osan entrar en la morada contigua, o un purrete psicópata llamado Brandon (Jack Cassidy), quien “viola” simbólicamente a M3GAN -esto es el mainstream yanqui, casi todo está vedado para lograr una baja calificación por edad para el estreno masivo en salas- cuando se lleva a la muñeca, la tira al suelo, le saca un zapato, la golpea en la cara e incluso le agarra el pelo, ganándose q…
But as it is, I think the creators – producers James Wan and Blumhouse, writer Akela Cooper and director Gerard Johnstone – just wanted to have fun with its high concept, which is also reminiscent of movies like War Games (1983) and Weird Science (1985).”
The kind of thriller which echoes the likes of The Bad Seed (1956) and The Good Son (1993).
The visual difference between both humanoids fittingly mirrors the real-world evolution of AI — from Tron-like simulations to cyberworlds indistinguishable from reality.
…there’s another goofy dance sequence, this time at an “Embrace AI” conference that looks like it’s taking place on the set of Tron…
While some of the set pieces and sequences take on THE MATRIX…
…our obsession with digital connectivity has trapped us in a manipulatable web of reality that’s not unlike The Matrix…
…it maintains the first film’s flashes of satirical wit (digging the Knight Rider theme!)
Even then, it’s doubtful we’ll ever see Tom Cruise trapped in a sentient smart speaker telling the IMF to “hold onto their vaginas” before taking off in a futuristic sports car after a murderbot at 235 miles per hour while the Knight Rider theme plays.
…nitpicking that feels like saying Aliens or Terminator 2: Judgement Day don’t feel like proper sequels to their predecessors…
Like ALIENS, it takes on new targets…
Ash portrayed by Iam Holm went beserk in Ridley Scott’s Alien , which is why Ripley didn’t trust cyborg Bishop in James Cameron’s Aliens .
Stanley Kubrick tried to warn us when HAL 9000 staged a mutiny in 2001: A Space Odyssey .
It can be thought-provoking life After Yang , menacing like 2001: A Space Odyssey , or could flip about in between, such as Lost in Space .
Directed by Gerard Johnstone, M3GAN is what happens when a bunch of genius toy developers who have never watched Terminator , Age of Ultron , 2001 A Space Odyssey , or any evil robot movie ever made decide it is a great idea to create a child android as a companion for children.
…the film includes among its many influences Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade (2018), with its similar exoskeletons and neural implants.
It could almost be called a blatant hodgepodge of amalgamated elements from Phantom of the Opera, Terminator 2 (1991), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Upgrade (2018), and at one point, M3GAN 2.0 veers into being a cyberpunk spy actioner akin to the latest Mission Impossible movies, especially considering those were also about stopping rogue A.I.
In 1992, Peter Jackson directed the cult classic zombie movie Dead Alive, and while Black Sheep was a noble attempt, it's taken more than 20 years for the world to witness a New Zealand horror-comedy that feels like a worthy follow-up.
Fans of Peter Jackson’s early works of zany, comedy horror will most likely revel in Gerard Johnstone’s debut, Housebound , as this sometimes feels like a distant cousin to 1992’s Dead Alive .
…with a charming B movie flavor reminiscent of Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend…
Nor has she watched Deadly Friend – starring the best Buffy, 80s Kristy Swanson – because then she would already know robots are never your pal once you put the remote down.
Although the automatic correlation to make with M3GAN is that it’s a mere pale imitation of the Child’s Play movies (particularly the 2019 one), at the core of the story is “the Baby Boom narrative.”
One that screenwriters Jack Amiel and Michael Begler would also emulate in the 2004 Garry Marshall-directed film, Raising Helen .