Not what I expected. The previews depict a whole different situation and made it seem like It would be a horror film.

We went in thinking this was a high tech chucky movie. It turned into more fatal attraction. Still a good movie but if you are hoping for scares. This one really does not deliver.

Alas, the film does slip towards industry-standard punch-ups in the last 15 minutes. But there is enough promise in this cheeky, witty, incisive shocker to let us look forward to inevitable sequels with something like enthusiasm.

Yes, Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN is pulled from January’s bucket of mostly low-budget pablum, but it’s cheeky and knowing enough to stand out from the slop.

It’s a crowded subgenre but among all of its haunted/psycho-killer doll forebears and contemporaries, M3GAN is still brisk, fresh, and delightfully compelling.

Trace Sauveur

Austin Chronicle