L'I.A. du mal

I didn't expect too much from Afraid but it proved to be an entertaining watch provided you accept it for what it is - a brisk little AI related thriller and not heavy sci-fi.

John Cho and Katherine Waterston are fine actors who manage to portray a fairly believable family dynamic despite not having a whole lot to work with in terms of character detail or back story and the occasional moments of klunky dialogue. Between them they manage to lift proceedings where lesser actors would probably make this more likely to go straight to streaming or disc.

Where it does score is the undeniably creepy AI and the way it easily relates to the characters. Wisely it has a short running time so doesn't out stay its welcome.

It got me thinking about other recent AI or tech related movies like Megan, T. I. M and Kimi and if you liked any of these I reckon most would quite enjoy Afraid.

I was also thinking about House/Wife (previously known as Ivy), the movie Netflix completed but didn't release reportedly for tax reasons. Afraid did seem to feature a lot of this movie's reported plot details and it would have been fun to see just how many. Thanks Netflix.

Everyone is afraid of AI...with good reason after seeing this film.

"AfrAId" is AI on steroids.

Ironically just before seeing this movie I learned I'd been overlooked by an existing client for a voiceover job after losing out to AI.

If you don't think AI is a real threat to your life, income, family etc already then you have adopted the Ostrich stance and stuck your head in the sand or somewhere else.

In "AfrAId" we have a chat bot "AIA" who is looking for a family to love her, but she handles rejection worse than a contestant on "The Voice" when no judges turn their chairs after their audition.

"Curtis'" (John Cho "Harold and Kumar") family become early adopters or Guinea Pigs of "AIA" and get to test out this new device that seems harmless enough at first, helpful with home management and finances, medical advice and even quiet sexy time for the parents.

Slowly this worm turns and the real insidious nature of her becomes apparent.

"AfrAId" is an interesting case study into the bio-metrics of an average family with Katherine Waterston as "Meredith" wanting to prove she's more than just a "mom".

Her eldest daughter "Iris" (Lukita Maxwell "Shrinking") is struggling to navigate her teenage years in the digital device age.

Wyatt Lindner as "Preston" has some serious learning and social skill difficulties, while baby brother "Cal" (Isaac Bae) is battling on the totem pole of this regular family to be noticed.

Cho as "Curtis" bought the wrong AI home this time and invited it into his home!

Early in the film the classic Stanley Kubrick movie: "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is quoted and we're reminded that AI known as "HAL" killed the entire crew (spoiler alert).

Hinting and foreshadowing heavily that the same outcome will occur in "AfrAId".

Turns out this AI messed with the wrong family or did it?

Watch out for: Keith Caradine as "Curtis'" Boss "Marcus"

Listen out for: the haunting "Utopia" by Goldfrapp in the soundtracks end credits.

Wait for: an unboxing video in the end credits.

This AI is like a Super Alexa to the nth degree and she doesn't need a body like "M3G" (2023) because she is omnipresent.

Just wait till you witness how invasive and damaging this predictive "AIA" can be in this families life.

"AfrAId" is also reminiscent of "Ex Machina" (2014), "Demon Seed" (1977) and "Smart House" (1999).

"AfrAId" feels like an extended movie length version of an episode of "Black Mirror".

I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing since I'm a big fan of that Netflix sci-fi series.

It also seems written for a sequel to really ramp things up in the horror department next time out of the box (pardon the pun), because this movie lacked much on screen horror...even though there were hints of a Boogeyman nothing eventuated.

It's more of a terrifying theme that is so contemporary in 2024.

"AfrAId" makes Chat GPT 4.0 look like an innocent, obsolete joke and joins the Blumhouse collection.

Just for the record no AI was used in the writing of this review, spell check YES, but no AI.

My initial reaction was this has all been done before and better, but it's an important, provocative movie for our time of deep fake and artificial intelligence seeping into our lives.

"AfrAId" is chilling because they listen and watch, but it's too soft on sheer horror to make you afraid, very, very afraid!

I decided to go see this film mainly based on the fact that I noticed how polarized the IMDb viewers reviews are here so far. Quite a few people have loved it, quite a few have hated it. When I see that, I often feel there is strong potential that it's a thought provoking film that only works well for certain types of viewers. And well, I also NEVER give much of any merit to what the critics say, ESPECIALLY when it comes to intelligence. Have you seen the kind of crap they mostly claim is good or even great these days?

If you enjoy thought provoking AI films, then this is actually well worth a look in my view. Personally I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would EVER hire a security company or any company to monitor their homes. So for me, this film in a sense is right up my alley. I also feel that we are already trusting technology far too much in terms of bank accounts, etc, and the abuse we are all enduring regarding online privacy/corporate information gathering, etc, and a whole host of other similar issues. So ad in the advanced AI aspect that is becoming more and more a thing in our world. For me this film was definitely well worth the watch.

I'm sad to see that the critics have murdered it already, especially when I consider the mind-numbing junk they're often saying is passable. The viewers have mostly disliked it too it seems, but I think that is mostly coming from the youth so far, which I think is definitely understandable from them. For one thing, young people are much more familiar with the idea of AI being dangerous. So for them, I feel like this film may just be too familiar to their generation.

The film is certainly not great overall. However the scenario and ideas presented all work pretty well for a reasonably thought provoking and relevant to our times film. For me, despite some weak aspects here and there, the film mostly does work quite well. I do think that perhaps the younger people may have already seen too many similar TV shows and films by now. For most people over 30 with some interest however, I would definitely recommend a viewing of this. It may be far more important than many currently believe. In my view on the AI subject, it's not just about runaway AI, to me the more dangerous aspect is certainly not the AI itself, but definitely the humans that are behind the AI programs that are more of a concern as we head into the future...

Note: I also saw M3GAN (2022), but I just felt that film was far too regurgitated in terms of what it presented. It's all been done better previously. There was little to nothing thought provoking in it to me at all, (Mainly because I've seen the same basic plot before in other films.). However the critics mostly liked that very stale and fairly silly film. Personally, I gave it a 4/10 here. For me, this film was a good bit more interesting and thought provoking. I would agree that AfrAId is not really a scary horror film, not in a traditional sense anyway. However it is a film that presents a scary scenario that is some serious food for thought on our real present day world. In that sense, it is a good and somewhat scary film.

7/10.

I just got out of AfrAid.

I'd never heard of this movie. Directed by Chris Weitz and starring a solid cast of John Cho, Katherine Waterstone, Lukita Maxwell and Keith Carredine.

It's a bit typical of the rogue AI storyline, AI is introduced into family home, movie does a good job of showing how AI makes life convenient for the family, then AI starts to become too real etc. It's totally predictable, but thanks to the cast, I enjoyed it.

This isn't really a horror, despite some out of place jump scares, that really didn't need to be there. The movie was at its best when it was dealing with technology that is out there, already. Like the deep fake, stuff. That was when it was most interesting.

I think there is a much longer version of this movie out there, as things are just glossed over and there is a huge plot point, that just is forgotten about. It is really short too. It started at 14:40 and I was out of the cinema by 15:55

There were 7 other people in my screening.

This is not a horror movie, even though the trailer makes it look like one. Yes, there are two or three short scenes (no jumpscares) that might qualify as "scary" for some people and could be part of one but in the end it's rather a thriller that's scary for a different reason: Because of the topics it addresses. A lot of what's shown in the movie is already reality: Deepfakes, smart homes and glitchy software. But what if AI was actively a part of all of that - and (ab)using it? This (and its consequences) could become reality within the next 10 or 20 years and that's the scary part.

The actors are doing a good job, which is what I'm used to from Cho, Waterston and Dastmalchian. The story is ... well, not actually that important, but it's able to get the movie's message across. The ending looks as if it's trying to set up a sequel, which is fine by me.

"AfrAId" is a solid movie that shows the dangers of AI - nothing I'd watch twice but entertaining enough for an evening.