M3GAN 2.0's Best Running Gag Pays Homage To One Of The Goofiest Action Actors Ever

This article contains spoilers for "M3GAN 2.0."

"M3GAN" is a film about the nuances and pitfalls of parenting, wherein a technology guru, Gemma (Allison Williams), creates an artificially intelligent doll, M3GAN (Amie Donald and Jenna Davis), to essentially take over parenting duties of her orphaned niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). In true HAL 9000 meets Chucky fashion, it doesn't go well, as M3GAN becomes self-aware and goes to murderous lengths to try and complete her objective. This month's sequel, "M3GAN 2.0" (read our review here), sees the titular robot begin to grow and evolve past her initial programming, an evolution that's a metaphor for any developing child as well as one that's in tandem with M3GAN's "sister," Cady. Like any young person, Cady is hungry for role models beyond her own family unit, and given her developmental history, it wouldn't be a surprise if she chose one that was a little ... strange.

Enter Steven Seagal. The Lansing, Michigan-born martial artist found his way to becoming an action movie star during the genre boom of the '80s and '90s, working his way up from a fight coordinator thanks to his impressive physical skills. While his acting talents were never extraordinary, Seagal's naturally intense presence helped him craft a screen persona, one which served him well in movies like "Hard to Kill," "Marked for Death," and "Out for Justice." His collaboration with director Andrew Davis resulted in arguably his two best films, "Above the Law" and "Under Siege." Yet all of these successes occurred in the early '90s, and by the end of that decade, Seagal's star fell considerably, thanks in large part to his continued bad attitude and behavior that gained him a reputation. It takes a lot to be considered the worst "Saturday Night Live" host of all time, not just by this very website but by "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels himself!

So, while Cady's hero worship of the goofy Seagal in "M3GAN 2.0" is largely played for laughs as a running gag, it ends up having a pretty great punchline, one that resonates with Cady's character as well as with the movie's themes.

In "M3GAN 2.0," Cady is growing up and trying to get past her traumatic experiences from the first movie in mostly healthy ways. She's still seeing a therapist, Lydia (Amy Usherwood, reprising her role), she's attempting to follow in her aunt's footsteps by pursuing her interest in computer design, and she's taken up studying martial arts. Yet instead of Bruce Lee or even Billy Blanks, Cady has chosen Seagal as her spiritual mentor, and sometimes the star's surly attitude and quick-to-anger nature leaps out in her. Yet it turns out that her love of Seagal ends up paying off when it counts, as Gemma (with a little prodding from M3GAN) uses Cady's knowledge of Seagal movies to inspire her to disarm the creepy sociopath Christian (Aristotle Athari) ... literally.

In 1988's "Above the Law," Seagal plays Nicolo "Nico" Toscani, a martial artist recruited by the CIA (a plot point that Seagal claims is based on his real life, for which a citation is definitely needed). During his service, Nico runs afoul of another CIA agent, Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva), who has a penchant for torturing prisoners. A few years later, Zagon has gotten into some criminal activities, and only Nico can put a stop to it. He does so in a fashion that became a calling card for Seagal's brand of screen violence, which is breaking as many bones as possible. In the film's climactic fight scene, Nico gets hold of Zagon's arm and breaks it, bending the appendage far enough in the wrong direction that it looks like a wet noodle.

This arm break became a literal meme in the early days of the internet and is still used occasionally as a visual punctuation on social media. Paying homage to both Seagal and the "Above the Law" scene's internet infamy, Cady is inspired to break Christian's arm in the same way, completing the transformation of all three main characters of the film into ass-kicking heroines. The satire inherent within both "M3GAN" films is readily apparent in Cady choosing for a role model one of the goofiest action stars with perhaps the poorest reputation. Yet, just as M3GAN herself can evolve and find some good within herself, so can Cady and "M3GAN 2.0" find some value in the work of Steven Seagal. (There's just no rehabilitating "Strut," however.)