Directed By Chris Weitz

Starring – John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu

The Plot – Curtis (Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called AIA. Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, AIA seems able to do it all. She learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs, all the while making sure nothing and no one gets in her family’s way.

Rated PG-13 for sexual material, some strong violence, some strong adult language, and thematic material.

AFRAID – Official Trailer (HD) (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Who better than ‘American Pie’ co-commander, Chris Weitz, to orchestrate a cautionary tale about the advancement of artificial intelligence on a five family member household? That statement emits a touch of sarcasm, but all ironies aside, Weitz vividly taps into a relatability in humanity that fleshes out some unique vulnerabilities in this family’s design, helping him to not only evade the tropes of conventional characterization that so many of these family horror films abide by, but also establishing meaning to the uses of artificial intelligence on each of its members, which makes it easier to understand how they fall victim to such a scary concept to outside sources. In such, the one distinguishing trait towards each member is a corresponding loneliness that AIA seamlessly fills with understanding and support, helping it to dive a little deeper than just labeling each of them with a toxic technological dependency, and instead filling in the gaps of their wants and needs with easy resolutions that we as humans take for granted each day. On top of this, Weitz does an excellent job of outlining the pros and cons of such a system, with the former taking conveniences to a whole new meaning as a family member who has the house running like a well-oiled machine, while the latter ruthlessly humbles them in ways that don’t even have to be factually accurate in order to show them who is continuously in control. In terms of stakes, this is unfortunately as edgy as the film ever gets, and while the backlash that AIA unloads at her family’s feet is sure to keep anyone from fully embracing artificial intelligence, I do respect the film’s need to educate an audience on manufactured truths, especially in an age where half of the population is happy to embrace everything they read, if it satisfies their own preconceived narratives. Lastly, the dynamic duo of Cho and Waterston keep this film from being one of the year’s worst, with emotionally-driven performances that feel far too elevated and palpable to be a part of this kind of quality in movie. Waterston especially generates tears effortlessly in a character with a lot of suppressed pain in everything from a squandered career to unfinished business with her father, and though the film tends to follow Cho’s character a bit more faithfully, I felt the stakes and urgency of the narrative was elevated each time it diverted back to her household encapsulation, especially in the overwhelming tragic factor of putting her dreams and aspirations on hold, in order to give her family everything they need.

NEGATIVES

Though Blumhouse has definitely produced worse, even in just this year, ‘Afraid’ and its compelling concept are abandoned by underwhelming and underdeveloped layers of horror that completely waste away the engagement, especially with an 80 minute run time that already condenses storytelling matters as tightly developed as artistically possible. In being a PG-13 film, the rating certainly doesn’t provide a lot of expressive freedom or creativity for the movie’s minimalized deaths and corresponding brutality, but even worse than that, the script feels like it forgets that it’s a horror movie about halfway through the engagement, with absolutely no suspense or atmospheric ominousness to feed into audience interpretations. While I typically always loathe jump scares as a means of disrupting tranquility in the most uncreative methods, the kind elicited here are of the laziest and most predictable that I’ve ever seen established, with obviousness in camera angles and dialogue structure that all but points to which direction a body will jump out, at any given second. There’s simply no kind of atmospheric consistency or creative effort attained with utilizing its distinction in genre, creating a tone deaf emphasis between the drama-heavy beats of the performances and lukewarm waters of its horror material, which never settle into a comfortable rhythm, and if not for AIA’s desire to make the kids quite literally watch ‘The Emoji Movie’, during the film, I could’ve forgiven its sloppy structure, but instead relegate it to being just another example of Sony Pictures being the biggest admirer of even its grandest failures. In addition to the undercooked and undelivered horror aspects, the script is very clunky and underdeveloped with its characters and their respective arcs, especially with so many questions and laps of logic during the film’s inferior second half, which jolts character decisions into downright silliness. As previously stated, I was thoroughly invested into the heart and humanity that this ensemble supplant to these characters, but they’re rewarded with rushed developments so abrupt and illogical that it makes the sequencing feel a bit disjointed in consequence, especially once the film delves deeper into who or what is really behind AIA, which eviscerated any shred of intimidation factor in this machine knowing so many intimate details of this family’s lives. Most compromised to the condensed run time is the movie’s ending, which not only serves as one of my least favorite climaxes of the entire cinematic year, as a result of abrupt resolutions leading to unsatisfying directions for the characters, but also takes far too long to set-up in the manifesting of the conflict between human and machine, leaving about twenty minutes of exploration to drive a bang to the exploration, instead settling for a puny whimper that feels like four tires to a vehicle deflating simultaneously. Because this film involves nothing of a meaningfully meaty sequence or even exceptional style to its presentation, it just kind of transpires without you realizing these scenes come and go with the kind of relevance as a leaf falling into a forest, rendering it as forgettably bland and lifeless as anything that you will experience in the cinematic graveyard of August releases. Likewise, while the film does aptly utilize Cho and Waterston accordingly to inscribe some dramatic heft to an otherwise edgeless engagement, the misusage of arguably its biggest star is most unforgivable, especially with the wave of momentum that this actor is currently riding. I’m talking about David Dastmalchian, whom initially I didn’t even know was in the film, but quickly dispelled my curiosity, as he merely accompanies two scenes in the entirety of the film. This could’ve been a favor for Weitz or someone else within the production, but David’s consistently creepy demeanor evaporates within a thankless role that could’ve featured literally anyone in the shoes of the character, a feat that is particularly disappointing considering a meaningless role like this follows arguably the greatest of his career, in April’s ‘Late Night with the Devil’, which should’ve elevated him to an entirely different stratosphere, but here doesn’t value his influence in ways that make him a necessity to his casting.

OVERALL
‘Afraid’ doesn’t have the frights or ferocity to live up to its titular adjective, but beyond that serves as another monotonous failure for Blumhouse, who waste away a fascinating premise with lackadaisical execution so flat and lifeless that you forget what genre you’re even watching. Despite merit-worthy performances from Cho and Waterson, who go above and beyond anything that this movie rightfully deserves, the film is a shallow and standardized summary of every ‘evil technology’ movie that came before it, with far too much artificiality, and not enough intelligence, to its own lack of awareness.

My Grade: 3/10 or F+