Afraid

Technology seems to deveolpe just as fast as My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell´s pillows. I swear whenever i see Mike Lindell´s commercials it´s like he have developed the most advanced TV commercials that this world have ever witnessed. No matter if he is selling his masterpiece products of towels or the most advanced slippers ever made you know Mike Lindell is a step before everyone in technology. Speaking of technology i think most of us have seen how much A.I. technology have developed over the years. Not only do we have A.I. robots serving our food you can also have sex with A.I. robots, have them clean your house or let them drive you to any destination you want. In my world that is a bit scary when we allow A.I. technology deeply into our private lives, especially in our sex lives. What happened with just having sex with human beings? I have no problems with sex toys because that´s not a negative thing, i just find it hard to see myself having sex with an A.I. robot. I can assure you this will never happen, i would rather go old school with Playboy magazine if i had to choose. When it comes to films bringing up A.I. technology one of my personal favourite films in this genre is the 2004 sci fi action film I, Robot from director Alex Proyas ( director of the original The Crow film ). This film turned out to be a clever sci fi film regarding what could go wrong if we let artificial intelligence take over control over the world with great special effects, nice looking action scenes and Will Smith in the lead role as the character Del Spooner proved once more hes a really good action star. If you pick up a physical copy on DVD or blu ray of I, Robot i suggest you listen to the commentary track for some interesting information. Speaking of AI technology this year we had a horror film released inspired by artificial intelligence technology called Afraid from director Chris Weitz ( who directed one of my favourite Hugh Grant films called About A Boy and the excellent Netfix drama thriller Operation Finale with legendary actor Ben Kingsley ). Even though i knew reviews of Afraid have not been very positive i decided to give this film a chance, just in case i might actually like it. Is this a horror film to watch this upcoming Christmas or should Santa Claus bury this film underneath the snow?

Curtis ( John Cho ) and his partner Meredith ( Katherine Waterston ) have three kids, a teenage daughter, Iris ( Lukita Maxwell ), and their two sons, Cal ( Isaac Bae ) and Preston ( Wyatt Lindner ). At Curtis computer engineering workplace, Curtis is notified by his boss Marcus ( Keith Carradine ) that a company is designing a new A.I. and wants to pitch it to their company. Curtis does not trust the growing A.I. technology but agree to go to meet the team of the company, Melody ( Havana Rose Liu ), Lightning ( David Dastmalchian ) and Sam ( Ashley Romans ). They intoduce Curtis to the A.I. which is named AIA and asks if he can test it so they could increase their marketing. Curtis agree to try AIA at his home to see if his family will like it as well. In the beginning it seems AIA almost becomes like a family member, but everything that looked so good is about to take a completely different turn.

Some of you might have seen the horror film known as M3GAN released in January of 2023 about a young girl named Cady ( played by child actress Violet McGraw ) who becomes best friend with an atificial intelligence ( A.I. ) dolll named M3GAN. This film may not be nowhere near as good as the 2004 film I, Robot but i did enjoy it for trying to bring a different perspective on A.I. technology with the help of a doll. Afraid is of course a horror film that tries to bring in A.I. technology in an ordinary American family home where a smart home A.I. suddenly start to manipulate the family. I think the idea on paper is intresting and i appreciate that they didn´t try to repeat something similar to M3GAN. However, this film deals with a lot of issues and i do feel i have to talk about some of the flaws that Afraid clearly struggles with. This is supposed to be a horror fim and there is not one single scene i felt anything scary happening. The only scene i would call something horror related is a car crash scene but not even the smart home A.I. scenes deliver anything with horror influences. I don´t mind the design of the smart home A.I. but it feels like they don´t use the technology in a effective way in this film. If you are going to make a horror film connected to new technology you should probably find a way to tell a great horror story and not rely on the voice on the smart home A.I. to find the right strings. I have to be honest and say this film is a lazy attempt to try and be modern but doesn´t really have much to offer. The acting is ok for some of the characters but most of them are not really interesting or change the fact that the plot is weak. If i have to pick a character who i enjoyed more than others i would probably go with Curtis ( played by actor John Cho who is great in the 2018 psychological thriller Missing ). Afraid have done terrible at the box office and i can see why, this is a film that will most likely be forgotten and there is a good reason for that. Not terrible all the way but director Chris Weitz clearly missed the mark what he set out to do with this film. Afraid may be something for you if you love A.I. technology, i suggest you watch the 2018 film Searching with actor John Cho instead.

Rating: DD