‘Afraid’ Review: John Cho Stars in New AI-Themed Horror Movie (original) (raw)
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‘Afraid’ Review: Hey Siri, Don’t Kill Us
A family surrenders control of its life to artificial intelligence with predictably dire results — for this movie’s viewers.
From left, John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Isaac Bae and Lukita Maxwell in “Afraid.”Credit...Glen Wilson/Sony Pictures
Aug. 30, 2024
Afraid
Directed by Chris Weitz
Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
PG-13
1h 25m
Curtis and Meredith (John Cho and Katherine Waterston) should have had their spidey senses tingling when their new digital assistant, AIA, dismissed one of its competitors with a breezy “Alexa, that bitch?”
Instead, the couple and their three children, all of whom are endowed with a mix of entitlement and shopworn neuroses, give AIA (pronounced Aya, and voiced by Havana Rose Liu) the keys to their lives. The new gizmo is more than convenient, you see — AIA, which sees and hears everything, anticipates then solves everybody’s problems.
Watching any movie in which artificial intelligence goes rogue (and there are a lot), it’s hard not to think that humankind is rushing to its doom because we were too lazy to manually turn on a light or pick a song. But before we get to the age of the machine, films like Chris Weitz’s limp techno-thriller “Afraid” are attempting to ring an alarm bell.
As AIA takes control of every aspect of its new household — the movie feels as if it’s set five minutes into the future — it quickly becomes obvious that this assistant wants to be the boss. This scenario’s predictability could be forgiven were the movie effective on any level, but it just isn’t, from Cho and Waterston’s wooden performances to jump scares that would not startle Scooby-Doo.
Early on, Meredith drops a reference to HAL 9000, the malevolent computer from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This suggests an awareness of the dangers of ahead, but does she change her behavior? Of course not: Unlike AIA, these humans don’t learn.
Afraid
Rated PG-13 for the occasional bad word. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. In theaters.
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