M3gan (2022)

 "What did you think was going to happen...?"

Now, in 2026, AI seems a more fitting subject for thoughtful science fiction and, indeed, horror, than it dd four years ago, in how it's slowly inserting itself into our personal and working lives, creating dependence, with models going rogue and CEOs of AI tech behemoths cheerfully admitting that the extinction of humanity may be on the line.

That may well be hyperbole, I'm certainly in no position to say. But the potential dangers lying well short of that are terrifying enough. And the central conceit of this impressive little film, withe no stars but loads of idea, is truly terrifying: what if a realistic, thinking robot doll, paired to a child, ultimately ends up creating a dependence, alienating the parent figure and potentially even guiding humanity through its children?

It's interesting seeing this a few years after Channel 4's Humans, and I'm reminded of Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Earth, with the Solarian child Fallom being depended on Jemby, its robot nanny, suggesting similar ideas in passing without really developing them.

Still, the film is as much about parenting as it is about AI, about the fine line where dependence on technology becomes inadvertent parental neglect. It's not a film that's lacking in themes. It's also bloody terrifying, effectively plotted and shot, with M3gan itself being truly, existentially creepy.