PLOT: Follows a grieving engineer tasked with testing a ruthless tech giant’s new artificially intelligent android. But when he attempts to program her to be a truly sentient soulmate, she develops needs of her own – unleashing a relentless spree of precision-engineered mayhem.
REVIEW: I’m not sure any franchise has had a stranger path than M3GAN. The first film took the world by storm, and it seemed like it would be a staple for Blumhouse. So a sequel and spinoff were quickly put into production. But once the sequel absolutely bombed, the spinoff was left in limbo. It didn’t help that films like Companion and Obsession have come, gone, succeeded, and followed similar plot beats. Now, Soulm8te is finally getting a direct-to-streaming release (it’s now available on all digital platforms). But was it really worth all this trouble?
Soulm8te (it physically pains me to type that number every time) follows a recently widowed engineer, David, who beta tests his company’s companion robot. When I say companion, I’m sure you know what I’m getting at. But it’s more than just sexy times, as he alters her code, allowing her more sentience than intended. Now, the robot is taking an unhealthy obsession with him, and things get deadly. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m really trying to hammer in the point that this is very similar to the previously mentioned films. But comparisons should never be enough to doom a film, so I tried never to hold the similarities against it.
I really felt for David, who manages to be a bit pathetic but never so far that you don’t want to root for him. And if there’s anyone who’s going to form a bond with an AI, it’s probably a grieving widow who can’t connect with other human beings at the moment. I wish this was more of the focus, as it’s a problem that’s currently going on in society. But it’s brushed past fairly quickly, and they don’t fully take advantage of the concept. The star of the show is Lily Sullivan as Sara, the AI Android who doesn’t fully understand the world around her but is trying to. With a lesser actress, this could have been a more one-dimensional villain but Sullivan really nails Sara’s curiosity.
Unlike other films, where the robot is so human-like, you practically can’t differentiate between the two, these Soulm8tes still act very robotic. It’s why David has to change her code, because he wants to have a more human experience. But whether it’s her cadence, posture, or even body movement, we never lose sight of the fact that Sara is a robot. And that’s all on Lily, who is always evolving the character as she moves through the story, learning more, while still keeping the core of who she is in plain sight.
I was surprised by the R Rating but it’s mostly for nudity versus violence. If anything, I was disappointed at how much is done offscreen. A few insert shots could have really gone a long way. Just like with M3GAN, there’s no impact with any of the kills. They just sort of happen, and there doesn’t seem to be enough resistance from the victim. Takes away some of the suspense when characters don’t even care about their own lives.
Soulm8te showcases why it’s a terrible idea to base your personality around wellness influencers. We see as Sara tries to better herself from watching these videos online, only to give herself weird complexes about herself, that weren’t there before. The best of horror has an underlying social commentary and moments like that are where it gets interesting. There are just too many other times where the film wants to handhold us and doesn’t trust the viewer enough to come to the right conclusion on their own. I’m not sure whether this is due to studio notes or what, but I will always hate overexplaining. Sometimes a little bit of mystery can go a very long ways.
I know this film was delayed half a year, but with plot beats like employees having a return to office mandate, this practically feels like it was made during Covid. My dislike for M3GAN means I may not have been the most eagle-eyed viewer when it comes to Easter Eggs or references to that series. I’m sure there’s something present, but this mostly just seems to be in the world of AI-powered robots. If anything, it was a little strange, as there were plenty of opportunities
Soulm8te is easily the most I’ve ever enjoyed an entry in the M3gan franchise so I’ll consider that a win. It’s more sincere than I was expecting and it features great performances from both Sullivan and Rysdahl. It’s just following very similar plot beats of two of the best horror films of the last decade, so it’s sure to invite comparisons.
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