SOULM8TE

I think we can all agree that this is Megan, right? It is in essence the exact same story, just with a slightly more grown-up version of the same robot with a slightly different supporting cast, but it's still all Megan.

It is not as creepy as Megan, but that is partially because we've seen obsessive partners before and Megan lent another dimension to that, which this movie does not. It just leans heavily into the crazy possessive girlfriend and just makes her a killer robot that he is responsible for that isn't very innovative and that cheapens the movie. It's not a bad movie by any stretch but it is derivative of several other older works and if you wanted creepy robots you should probably just watch Megan instead.

I liked it better when it was called, 'Deadly Friend'.

Google it.

Deadly Friend came out in the 80's and was WAY better.

I liked this one better than m3gan 1 and 2, which feels like action flicks that try too hard to be horror; They are not bad flicks, but they are not scary.

It's also akin to Companion, which is a fun comedy and does not even try to be scary.

soulm8te is tagged as 'Horror, Science Fiction, and Thriller', it also fails at the horror bit, in the classical sense, but the syfy and thriller bits work better than other similar flicks; Still runs by the numbers thou.

I would be much better if they stopped markething these cutting-edge-tech-gone-wrong flicks as 'horror' and just called them thrillers, which would be at least accurate. But, bussiness is bussiness I guess.

Edit, and yes, Deadly Friend is the OG of these.

Where we are headed

A computer programmer deeply grieving the death of his girlfriend attempts to overcome his loss by acquiring "Sara" (a mediocre Lily Sullivan), an AI companion android created by the company he works for. Determined to transform her into a truly conscious partner capable of emulating a real human experience, David tampers with her system, disabling her safety protocols and expressive limitations. However, this manipulation triggers a possessive and destructive obsession in the machine, turning her into an implacable entity ready to neutralize any presence she perceives as a threat to their "relationship."

This premise ventures into territory heavily explored by contemporary cinema: the thin line between human emotional dependency and robot autonomy. Although Dolan's technical direction is competent and manages to build an initially magnetic atmosphere, the feature film faces a glaring obstacle in its narrative: a vision of tomorrow that completely lacks freshness or originality, constantly recycling dynamics and moral dilemmas that we have already seen a billion times over the last decade, and without offering any real critique or objective reflection.

The script plods linearly down a path of questionable human decisions and genre tropes that turn the whole plot into a total pain in the ass. As the tension escalates and the romantic plotline falls apart, the film chooses to resolve its conflicts through visual shock value, splattering the footage with explicit cruelty where bodily fluids and physical harm take absolute center stage. While this visual aggressiveness will probably satisfy hardcore gorehounds and thrill-seekers, the truth is that its inclusion feels more like a desperate gimmick to sugarcoat a total lack of plot substance.