Maniesh Ramanayake

Overall good movie. Although it struggles a bit with exposition and world building at the beginning, it slowly builds up to the climax a natural pace. Before seeing the movie, I was expecting it to be a generic kids movie with a shallow story, but after the first 20 minutes it became clear that this movie was made for adolescents and adults. It explore mature themes like depression, social isolation, suicidal ideation, mob mentality, perceived truth, prejudice. There is also more violence than the average kids animation, with some of the blood and gore shown off screen. However, I wish there was a different ending. Without spoiling anything, all I will say is that a "happy" ending is not always required. Sometimes for the story to carry weight there must be lasting consequences.

The first 20 minutes showed promise. There are some good slow-mo shots and well rounded introductions of (some) characters. After that the pacing becomes inconsistent and some of the interactions with some side characters feel synthetic and unnatural (Particularly with the people at the protagonist's school). Some of the cringe early in the film can be chalked up to the protagonist being a child and having an immature world view, but when the adults start doing it as well it's hard to suspend disbelief any longer. Half-way through the movie, it turns into a different type of movie. It's a drastic change from what was established at the beginning. It occurs so suddenly and without a decent set-up, accompanied by some cheap, cartoon-y looking props and costumes (some which look like they were made for a low budget B-movie 20 years ago). The surreal elements of the film are jarring mostly because the world-building and character background at the beginning does not account for it. The first cracks start to appear when the main characters get into a bloody brawl, only to appear fine the next day (no wounds, no bandages, no scars). It is not hard to notice the glaring plot-holes after the big revelation, the biggest one being that the antagonist is extremely, extremely wealthy and would have no need to get their hands dirty. Parts of the movie are on par with a low budget Disney movie made for kids, coupled with violent scenes from an R-rated movie. Some of the scenes seem somewhat out of place, and it was hard to make out if it was a homage to another film or a rushed mistake. It's almost like they spent most of their time and budget at the beginning and they rushed through the rest to meet their deadline. It was all over the place. There are indie movies with lower budgets that manage to do a better job, may be because they have a clear vision of what they want the film to convey.

In terms of a sci-fi thriller it is average. The real theme of this movie appears to be the mental health of children. It explores isolation, loneliness, para-social relationships, psychological trauma, anti-social behavior, existentialism and how children adapt/develop as a result of it. The movie showcases how negligent some adults (particularly guardians) can be towards children, who can pick up when the are being disingenuous. Both the child and m3gan are seen processing the world around them. Even though we cannot fully see Cady's inner thoughts, m3gan's internal interface shows how she is learning. The emotional analysis using facial cues highlights how people can sense when they are be deceived. The props, set design, and acting are so immersive, that it's easy to forget that m3gan isn't real. A large part of the movie's sequence of events includes cliches seen in other movies with self aware robots. The movie would have been perfect if they had a more original ending. Regardless, it is still a good movie that uses it's sci-fi premise to bring these concepts to a more mainstream audience by pacing it out. Without the sci-fi/thriller elements the movie would have been labeled a drama, only to be seen by critics at film festival and maybe award shows.

The atmosphere created by the sets, props, costumes and cinematography is very realistic. There were no overtly noticeable anachronisms. A good example was the corpse, which was very detailed and realistic. There was no sign of life when the actor was playing the corpse. Initially the corpse was soft and malleable, as seen when the examine the cavity in the chest (Decomposition was slowed down by the cold winter outdoors). A few hours after the corpse was left indoors, rigor mortis had set in and the detective has to snap and pry the message from his dead hands. The tone at which the characters speak is dynamic. When a character has been silent for some time and begins to speak, they start off with a shaky voice (as their vocal cords are ramping up). Their voices sound strained when they have been talking or shouting for extended periods of time, even when they have done so in the background or off camera. Although this is a murder mystery of sorts, there are barely any clues laid about regarding the true nature of events. You are brought along for the ride through the winding narrative. There are some cliches of old "buddy cop" movies, but they are veiled quite well by the world built around the characters. The beginning of the film is strong, but it becomes muddled somewhere in the middle. The scenes are most dark and gloomy (due to the winter), only lit by the faint candlelight at night, but it carried by the charged interaction of the characters. These interactions become lukewarm overtime, up until the detective has the epiphany, whereby it begins to ramp up again. The ending is not the most ingenious for a murder-mystery, but the emotional exchanges tie the whole movie together.