AfrAId (2024) Review – A Farcical Mess That Proves Rogue AI Just Isn’t Scary Anymore
AfrAId: Quick Verdict
The Verdict: A boring, derivative, and ultimately farcical entry into the “killer AI” sub-genre. While AfrAId begins with a fairly grounded domestic setup and benefits from the likeable pairing of John Cho and Katherine Waterston, it completely loses the plot in its second half. Writer-director Chris Weitz swaps early tension for a series of increasingly ridiculous and nonsensical narrative choices that feel like they were scripted by a broken algorithm. It is a toothless, PG-13 slog that offers zero scares and very little logic. A 2-star disappointment that serves as a reminder that Alexa mishearing your requests is far more frightening than anything on display here.
Details: Director: Chris Weitz | Cast: John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian | Runtime: 1h 24m | Release Date: 30 August 2024
Best for: Completionists of the Blumhouse catalogue, fans of John Cho, and viewers looking for a very light, tech-themed thriller to have on in the background.
Worth noting: This film marks the first collaboration between Chris Weitz and John Cho since the original American Pie (1999).
Where to Watch: Amazon🛒
Rating: 2/5 Stars
(Solid lead acting, zero scares, nonsensical ending)
Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are taking a look at a very dull artificial intelligence gone rogue horror movie – AfrAId (2024).
Highlights
It’s very familiar
Following the story of a family who are tasked with trialing a brand-new, sophisticated, smart home AI system that slowly begins to go a little crazy, AfrAId feels pretty familiar. Especially if you have watched the terrible Romi. With that being said, the whole “artificial intelligence becoming somewhat sentient and going crazy” thing has been around for a long time. It’s really nothing new.
“The whole “artificial intelligence becoming somewhat sentient and going crazy” thing has been around for a long time. It’s really nothing new.”
All that writer, director, Chris Weitz (yes, the American Pie dude) has done with AfrAId is turn the crazy AI thing into something many of us are already familiar with: a smart home assistant. Let me tell you from personal experience, I have Alexa in every room and that thing is already evil, making me repeat myself constantly and always mishearing me. The idea has already been done by Amazon.
Anyway, you know what to expect here. The plot writes itself. The AI assistant starts out being both helpful and life-changing, only to start showing wrinkles that hint at its true purpose. Some bad stuff happens, yada, yada, yada. Weitz tries hard to make it more timely by including references to popular concepts like deepfaking, revenge porn, and the like, but it doesn’t land. You have seen it all before.
AfrAId is utterly predictable. This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. I mean, this is a concept that can be enjoyable, and for some of the movie’s length, it actually is enjoyable. It isn’t until the second half when things really start to go crazy.
This movie goes absolutely crazy
AfrAId goes nuts in a way that I have rarely seen in a horror movie. And not in the deliberately crazy way that some horror movies go nuts. In a way which suggests that they let the AI assistant, AIA, write the second half of the movie after only being given the most basic outline of what has happened so far and with no knowledge of what direction the movie should go in. It is such a horrible mess. The predictable, yet enjoyable, domestic horror suddenly expands in a number of different directions and none of it makes any real sense.
It’s rather strange. Weitz spends a lot of time establishing a believable family with an understandably complex home life before abandoning the well-established characters and scenario in an effort to amp up the action and create some scary techno-thrills.
“The predictable, yet enjoyable, domestic horror suddenly expands in a number of different directions and none of it makes any real sense.”
It simply doesn’t work in the slightest. In fact, I would go as far as to say it’s utterly ridiculous. Farcical, in fact. Some of the later parts of the movie had me laughing out loud for how silly they are. Especially as the AI begins playing a game of “stop hitting yourself” with half of the characters. Nothing makes any sense. It’s all just a poorly scripted, jumbled mess.
There are a few positives
As mentioned above, the early part of the movie is quite enjoyable and quite watchable. Acting is a strong point with John Cho and Katherine Waterston making for a very authentic couple. Direction is decent enough with the story being, at least somewhat, compelling and the high-budget sheen doing a nice job of masking some of the early issues. It is all very predictable but that doesn’t impact on things too much. It’s just when that familial, domestic setting shifts that things begin to fall apart.
When the second half hits, it’s hard not to feel like the acting takes a dive. Cho seems disinterested towards the end and, at times, almost confused about the lines he is speaking. I can’t blame him, though.
“AfrAId is just a very poor effort… It is farcical, ridiculous, silly, and, worst of all, just not very interesting.”
It’s all so ridiculous. Obviously there are no scares. This is about as PG of a horror movie as you can imagine. Rogue AI simply isn’t scary anymore. Something which wouldn’t be a huge issue if the movie was good, but AfrAId really is not. I can’t help but feel like they are setting up a sequel – something which I doubt anyone has any real interest at all in. AfrAId is just a very poor effort.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Good
- The Lead Cast: John Cho and Katherine Waterston are both far too good for this material and manage to make the early family dynamics feel authentic.
- Production Values: The film has a clean, high-budget sheen that at least makes it easy on the eyes during the duller stretches.
The Bad
- The Second Half: A total narrative collapse. The film abandons its grounded tone for a jumble of nonsensical “techno-thrills.”
- Lack of Scares: This is a horror movie with almost no horror. The “scary” sequences are either laughably silly or entirely toothless.
- Derivative Plot: It brings absolutely nothing new to the “rogue AI” sub-genre, retreading themes done much better elsewhere.
The Ugly: The “Stop hitting yourself” sequence. It is meant to be a moment of digital terror, but it ends up being one of the most unintentionally funny parts of the film.
Should You Watch AfrAId?
It is very difficult to recommend this one. While the cast is solid and the first thirty minutes are watchable, the eventual descent into absurdity makes it feel like a waste of time. You are better off sticking with M3GAN or even a rewatch of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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