Commentary: ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Gives Fans A Taste Of A ‘Watchdogs’ Movie
by Frank Martin
Video-game-to-film adaptations have had a notorious track record. It’s very difficult to take the gameplay fans love and turn it into a pleasing narrative sequence. With Fallout, The Last of Us, and Halo, the tide seems to be turning in favor of adaptations finally getting it right. With an adaptation of the game Watchdogs set to release next year, fans are eagerly waiting to see hacker battles play out on the big screen. Fortunately, they can get a taste of what that might look like with M3GAN 2.0.
The film begins with a new life-like robot named Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno) out on a mission for the military.But right before she is about to complete her mission, she goes rogue, seemingly rejecting her orders for either a new master or herself. She begins killing anyone associated with her creation, which means she will eventually come after Gemma (Allison Williams), M3GAN’s creator from the first film. She believes M3GAN (Jenna Davis) to be dead, but the robot was only hiding in the digital world. M3GAN now needs Gemma to build her a new body so that she can stop Amelia before Gemma’s niece, Caddy (Violet McGraw), is put in danger.
Ditching the horror format from the first film, the sequel focuses primarily on action, which there is plenty of as these two killer robots go head-to-head. During a chase sequence, both M3GAN and Amelia tap into the digital landscape of the city they are racing through. Since the entire city’s system is connected, both of the robots are able to hack their way through the network and turn it to their advantage during the chase in real time. The gameplay in Watchdogs operates in a very similar way. As hackers do battle with each other, they utilize all networked devices to their benefit, even during a high-speed pursuit through a city. So while M3GAN’s story is vastly different, Watchdogs fans can get a small glimpse of what a hacker battle on screen might be like.
M3GAN 2.0 is now streaming on Peacock.
