M3GAN 2.0.

Despite a clever premise and great moments of camp, this sequel to Blumhouse's 2023 cult hit never fully recaptures the magic of the original.

I’m an unapologetic fan of the first “M3GAN.” Was it particularly scary? Not necessarily, but hey, it was certainly funny and had enough camp to keep me grinning and giggling like a schoolgirl throughout. It’s safe to say I was looking forward to “M3GAN 2.0.” Its trailers promised a “T2” send-up with an extra healthy serving of girlboss.

And while I did receive that in the movie itself, I ultimately walked out feeling underwhelmed.

“M3GAN 2.0.” doesn’t do the typical horror sequel trope of just repeating the same plot as the first; in fact, the sequel lifts the franchise completely out of the territory. But this also results in it having a bit of an identity crisis. There are not enough fight scenes or explosions to call it a full-on action movie, there aren’t enough laughs to call it a comedy, and there aren’t enough kills to call it a horror movie.

It’s more of a techno-thriller, and not a particularly good one.

Taking place two years after the events of the first film, M3GAN’s creator, Gemma (Allison Williams), has become an advocate for AI regulation and has partnered with a former cybersecurity analyst turned activist, Christian (Aristotle Athari). Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw) is now 12 years old and has become a tech prodigy in her own right, but has been struggling socially after M3GAN’s murderous spree.

When AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a new android created by the government from M3GAN’s original design, goes rogue and embarks on a murder spree of her own, Gemma and Cady are forced to make a difficult decision. They can either way for AMELIA to come and murder them, or they can build the still-alive but bodyless M3GAN (Amie Donald/Jenna Davis), a new taller body, to take out AMELIA before she reaches them. Of course, there wouldn’t really be a movie if they didn’t choose that second option. Thus, M3GAN is born again and has now become a force for good. Well, maybe not fully good, she’s still pretty mischievous.

It’s commendable that “M3GAN 2.0.” doesn’t just opt for a premise of M3GAN returning and going on another murder spree. But director and now writer Gerard Johnstone doesn’t seem to know what to do with the premise of M3GAN as an action hero. The action set pieces feel tediously tame in order to maintain a PG-13 rating, and when there’s not robot carnage happening, it’s just a lot of talking and one-liners. And as you probably expected, the dialogue isn’t the greatest.

Not that strong dialogue is important for a sequel to “M3GAN,” but when the plot becomes so convoluted, with some of the most easily telegraphed twists you’ll see all year, the movie’s shortcomings become even more apparent.

The returning cast all remain committed to their roles, even if it feels like some of them feel like they regressed after the end of the first film. Williams and McGraw’s sweet chemistry remains strong, you truly do care for the safety of their characters, even if they make some moronic decisions. Donald and Davis are also wonderfully committed to bringing M3GAN’s unhinged girlboss energy to life. Brian Jordan Alvarez’s Cole gets a bigger role (likely thanks to his breakout role in last year’s FX series “English Teacher”) and gets some laughs as the comic relief. But new cast members like Sakhno and Jemaine Clement don’t get nearly as much to do as some of the more uninteresting new additions, namely Athari.

“M3GAN 2.0.” works best when it's fully embracing its camp, from M3GAN soulfully singing a Kate Bush song or breakdancing at a tech expo, there are some moments that capture the charms of the first film. The sillier moments are moments are where the movie really lives and dies on. They are frequent enough that the film is never particularly boring, despite its two-hour runtime.

Even so, “M3GAN 2.0.” is a major disappointment. It wants to take some big swings in terms of its tonal shift, but it can’t escape its tedious plotting. It’s not like this was a bad direction to take a sequel, but it also just fails to recapture that lightning-in-a-bottle magic of its predecessor.