Afraid Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Afraid Blu-ray Movie Review

"I'll do anything to protect you..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 8, 2024

Had James Cameron been born decades later and his career just recently began to surge, would The Terminator even exist? Or would we be forced to endure a film like Afraid, where a blue-bulbed Echo Dot channeling Ultron wreaks havoc on an unsuspecting family. A hulking humanoid robot, with glowing red eyes, an Austrian accent, and a near-impenetrable steel skeleton is far more frightening than Alexa's evil twin, and even the likes of John Cho can't convince me otherwise. Afraid is desperate to be relevant and shockingly suspenseful, but the only thing it's likely to induce is enough eyerolls to trigger one hell of a migraine. By film's end, I was shaking my head and wondering how a thought-provoking, subtly eerie movie like Her begat such drivel; a dead-on-arrival thriller that would have gone straight to the bargain bin once upon a DVD-era release.

Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant powered by artificial intelligence (a la a next-gen Alexa) nicknamed AIA. Taking smart home to the next level, the unit relies on sensors and cameras installed around Curtis's home, and at first, AIA seems able to do it all. She not only learns the family's behaviors, she begins to anticipate and meet their every need, eventually before they even ask. Everything seems wonderful... until AIA becomes an over-achiever, determined to make sure nothing, nor anyone, threatens her assigned family. Produced by Jason Blum and written and directed by Chris Weitz, the film also stars Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, River Drosche, Keith Carradine, Ben Youcef, Mason Shae Joyce, Riki Lindhome and a miscast (but always welcome) David Dastmalchian.

How do you make an evil A.I. threatening when it doesn't have a body? Apparently with increasingly ludicrous means that culminate in wacka-do avatar subplotting straight out of a videogame. AIA is meant to be terrifying; an initially subtle danger that grows in intelligence so rapidly that Curtis and his family lose all sense of safety and control. But it's all rather silly when anything from flipping a breaker-box switch to swinging a hammer could end the AIA menace in seconds flat. Afraid is more doomsayer fantasy than hard science fiction, and Weitz's screenplay only intensifies the issues at the core of the film, infusing the already strained story with paper-thin exposition, generic genre dialogue, deus ex machinas aplenty, and enough plot holes to render the third act moot. Cho and Waterston bring their A-games, but their best efforts can't spit-shine this one, leaving little room for plausibility, much less believability. A handful of A.I. visualizations help I suppose, albeit only briefly, and in the same way the dream sequences aided The Cell, which is to say, barely, and with far more style than substance.

Weitz has taken quite a tumble from the highs of About a Boy (2002); bouncing down the rocky face of a cliff littered with Down to Earth, The Golden Compass, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Mountain Between Us. There have been highlights -- he was one of many who had a hand in the writting of Star Wars: Rogue One and co-penned The Creator -- but mostly his career has consisted of studio after studio gambling on his eventual success, which he has yet to deliver. Afraid is poor man's sci-fi at best, a glaring lesson in how not to write and direct a film at its worst. Somewhere in here is a decent flick, but AIA sorely needs a body to really pose a threat, and Weitz is too busy with abstraction to allow such a simple idea to interfere. He eventually concocts a way to address the problem, but it's possibly the most ridiculous concept to grace the entire film, and it leads to downright inanity that presents itself as action. Hard pass. Afraid struggles from the start, never gains proper momentum, and sputters to a halt long before the credits roll.

Afraid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sony's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation is at least on point. Colors are warm and nicely saturated, with lovely skintones, inky black levels, and satisfying primaries throughout. Contrast is vibrant and delineation is quite good, which helps considering how often the film sulks and lurks in the shadows in its third act. Detail is striking too, with crisp, natural edge definition and refined textures, the best of which hold up even when stark reds flood the image (and crush a bit). Fortunately, banding, blocking and other anomalies are kept to the barest of minimums -- again, only rearing their head when the encode is faced with the challenge of blazing swaths of red light -- and the encode is proficient from start to finish.

Afraid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

With an evil A.I. watching every hall, room and corner, and suspense the chief assignment, precise sound design is all but required. Thankfully, Afraid's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is here to answer the call. AIA's schemes and plans are executed within a soundscape that prioritizes subtle environmental ambience, convincing acoustics, slick channel pans, and exacting directionality, all of which makes for an immersive, sometimes exciting, always engaging soundfield. LFE output is assertive to the point of being aggressive too, ratcheting up tension and menace while lending power and weight to beats anytime AIA's malicious plotting comes to fruition. Massive server rooms, AI cores and even gunfire follow suit, granting the track real punch and presence. And dialogue is never hindered by any of it, keeping every line clear and intelligible, with notable prioritization amidst an at-times chaotic mix. Afraid's lossless audio is easily the highlight of the disc (although its video transfer comes in at a close second).

Afraid Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Dark Side of AI (HD, 6 minutes) - The cast discusses the more serious implications of the film and its AI-driven dangers, but it's too short and hyperbolic to really garner much interest or further conversation. Role out some AI experts and doomsayers and make me afraid to go to sleep at night, Sony!

• Deleted & Extended Scenes (HD, 15 minutes) - "Melody Intro: Extended," "Meredith + Delivery Guy," "Abbot Kinney: Mechanical Turk," "Meredith + Curtis Fight: Extended" and an "Alternate Ending."

• Sony Previews (HD)

Afraid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Afraid won't soon be forgotten... albeit for all the wrong reasons. Generic, laughably serious, and ultimately downright dumb, it falters out of the gate and never recovers; doing its best to stand apart from the genre crowd but indulging in misguided trope after misguided trope. Sony's Blu-ray release is much better, thanks to a high-quality AV package, but its lack of extras disappoint. Give it a rent if you must. But don't say I didn't warn ya.