Your favorite killer doll's favorite killer doll is back.M3GAN 2.0 is out in theaters now, bringing the beloved gay icon and Out digital cover star back to the big screen. Sign up for the Out Newsletter to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment delivered three times a week straight (well) to your inbox!Gerard Johnstone, who directed the first film, is back to helm the sequel. Johnstone also wrote the screenplay for M3GAN 2.0 after the original film's writer, Akela Cooper, stepped back. In the cast, Allison Williams reprises her role as M3GAN's inventor, Gemma, and Violet McGraw returns as Cady, the girl who was paired up with M3GAN in the first movie.This sequel starts a few years after the events of 2022's M3GAN and charts Gemma's public comeback after being blamed for M3GAN's initial rampage. In classic social-media-influencer-style, Gemma has written a book about the situation and became a public speaker and advocate for stricter artificial intelligence regulations, as well as parenting without the aid of technology.When a new and even deadlier android named AMELIA (Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android) played by Ivanna Sakhno goes rogue and starts hunting down the people who created her, Gemma and Cady are warned that they might be next And that's when M3GAN gets her epic comeback, now with an upgraded body.Together, Gemma and M3GAN learn that AMELIA is part of a larger plot to set free the most advanced AI model in the world from a secret, underground bunker where it is being hidden. They subsequently decide that it's up to them to stop AMELIA from succeeding. In other words, it's up to M3GAN and Gemma to essentially save the world from an AI apocalypse.M3GAN 2.0 leans more into the campiness that made the first film an instant classic, and that works well for it. Plenty of scenes and lines will leave audiences in stitches and have the gays snapping their fingers.Williams is excellent, as always, and takes bigger swings in this film making her role even more fun. The dynamics between Gemma and M3GAN are also more compelling in the sequel than they were in the original feature.One scene, which serves as a callback to the original's scene where M3GAN sings Sia's "Titanium" to Cady as a lullaby, uses an 1980s classic, and is one of the best and funniest scenes in the film.McGraw is also given more to do M3GAN 2.0. Cady's has grown up, and also learned martial arts and self-defense after being terrorized by the killer doll in the first movie.The sequel departs from the horror elements of the first M3GAN film, opting for more action instead, and the results are mostly positive. The new action elements enable M3GAN to shine and help maintain the pace. Still, the film is bogged down by an unnecessary two-hour runtime.Films like M3GAN tend to work best at 90-100 minutes. For instance, the first film comes in at a tight 102 minutes. M3GAN 2.0 runtime reaches 120 minutes, and it does feel like it.Despite its best attempts, this sequel could've, and should've, leaned even more into its campiness and c*ntiness. Instead, it shows Gemma installing an inhibitor chip in the new M3GAN that prevents her from murdering people. The movie's PG-13 rating also serves a similar role in holding back M3GAN from being her full self.M3GAN is c*nty, but because of her rating, she can't say c*nt.Ultimately, M3GAN, Gemma, and Cady are perfect, but M3GAN 2.0 would've benefited from having a better villain. In comparison to M3GAN, AMELIA doesn't really have any personality (which is part of the plot, as her programming is different). But M3GAN deserves a villain who can match her charisma.Still, the M3GAN franchise needs more installments, and I'm eager to see what M3GAN 3.0 has in store for us.Out review: 3/5 stars.M3GAN 2.0 is playing in theaters. For tickets and more information, visit M3GANmovie.com.