SOULM8TE Review: A Sad but Worthwhile Expansion of the M3GAN Universe
SOULM8TE is a nice watch, but it is also a surprisingly sad one. Set within the world of M3GAN , the new Blumhouse and Atomic Monster spinoff takes the franchise’s familiar ideas surrounding artificial intelligence and explores them through grief, loneliness, companionship, and the dangerous desire to manufacture a replacement for genuine human connection. Directed by Kate Dolan, the film follows a grieving engineer who is tasked with testing a new artificial-intelligence companion after a powerful technology company acquires his business. His efforts to transform the android into a truly sentient soulmate soon create consequences that neither of them can completely control. One of my biggest questions going into SOULM8TE was whether it could successfully stand on its own while still feeling like a meaningful part of the M3GAN universe. For me, it largely succeeds. The film does not need to place M3GAN herself at the center of everything. Instead, it uses the same universe to approa...