I decided to go see this film mainly based on the fact that I noticed how polarized the IMDb viewers reviews are here so far. Quite a few people have loved it, quite a few have hated it. When I see that, I often feel there is strong potential that it's a thought provoking film that only works well for certain types of viewers. And well, I also NEVER give much of any merit to what the critics say, ESPECIALLY when it comes to intelligence. Have you seen the kind of crap they mostly claim is good or even great these days?
If you enjoy thought provoking AI films, then this is actually well worth a look in my view. Personally I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would EVER hire a security company or any company to monitor their homes. So for me, this film in a sense is right up my alley. I also feel that we are already trusting technology far too much in terms of bank accounts, etc, and the abuse we are all enduring regarding online privacy/corporate information gathering, etc, and a whole host of other similar issues. So ad in the advanced AI aspect that is becoming more and more a thing in our world. For me this film was definitely well worth the watch.
I'm sad to see that the critics have murdered it already, especially when I consider the mind-numbing junk they're often saying is passable. The viewers have mostly disliked it too it seems, but I think that is mostly coming from the youth so far, which I think is definitely understandable from them. For one thing, young people are much more familiar with the idea of AI being dangerous. So for them, I feel like this film may just be too familiar to their generation.
The film is certainly not great overall. However the scenario and ideas presented all work pretty well for a reasonably thought provoking and relevant to our times film. For me, despite some weak aspects here and there, the film mostly does work quite well. I do think that perhaps the younger people may have already seen too many similar TV shows and films by now. For most people over 30 with some interest however, I would definitely recommend a viewing of this. It may be far more important than many currently believe. In my view on the AI subject, it's not just about runaway AI, to me the more dangerous aspect is certainly not the AI itself, but definitely the humans that are behind the AI programs that are more of a concern as we head into the future...
Note: I also saw M3GAN (2022), but I just felt that film was far too regurgitated in terms of what it presented. It's all been done better previously. There was little to nothing thought provoking in it to me at all, (Mainly because I've seen the same basic plot before in other films.). However the critics mostly liked that very stale and fairly silly film. Personally, I gave it a 4/10 here. For me, this film was a good bit more interesting and thought provoking. I would agree that AfrAId is not really a scary horror film, not in a traditional sense anyway. However it is a film that presents a scary scenario that is some serious food for thought on our real present day world. In that sense, it is a good and somewhat scary film.
7/10.
