KIMI (2022)

KIMI (2022)

Tagline: She's not the only one listening.

(Crime, Drama, Thriller) [R]

And trust me, I know bad: I used to moderate for Facebook. 

In this one, we are taken back to the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle. A technician named Angela that works for a new company that has launched a rival to SIRI and ALEXA named ” KIMI”. While viewing a data stream she witnesses a murder, but when she tries reporting it to the company she runs into sinister resistance. Angela has likely multiple challenges just going outside that were all aggravated by the COVID-19 lockdowns making the entire ordeal that much more difficult. 

First off, overall this thing is super slow and super boring execution-wise, but it’s got some really good points to it as well. It’s definitely an anti-lockdown film which I anticipate will be a thing in the next 10 to 15 years when people start analyzing how much damage some governors (particularly in Democratic-run cities) terrorized and tortured the citizens including the elderly, handicapped, and mentally challenged during 2019 and 2020, 2021 and even 2022. The movie is also somewhat anti big tech, while still sort of being pro-tech. From those standpoints, we’ve got some interesting and even parallel concepts. 

Where this movie succeeds is in the last 20 minutes where finally something interesting happens and we are treated to a decent ’90s soundtrack. We are even treated to FINALLY being able to see people outside without masks at some point in the movie, but even that might have been a little weird behind the scenes? A lot of you are probably well aware that some government officials and “elites” were totally fine with not wearing masks, while the “normals” had to. Zoe Kravitz also delivers an outstanding performance for the most part. This thing does have brief nudity, but it’s not overkill and I guess it sort of fits the storyline?  Acting wise I should also mention the few scenes that Byron Bowers is in, he does a good job as Terry. 

Where this movie drops the ball is in the ridiculously slow-moving and really just flat-out snore-inducing first hour or so. There is literally nothing happening and the script provides almost zero insight into Angela or her character. One other thing is that KIMI really isn’t the star of this thing. It’s an AI that barely had anything to do with anything aside from being the tool that witnesses the murder. In a sense, they might have been going for a SUPER 8 type nod here where in that movie the Super 8 camera leads to the discovery of what the Airforce was doing, but they also had a full Super 8 short at the end of that movie. This thing just has a basic AI that is watching you, listening to you, and playing your favorite tunes. So it's basically a dog that can turn music on. They really don’t exploit the tech angle of hardly anything in this flick. I also think it’s weird now whenever Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks show up in anything for reasons I won’t go into, but yeah…anyway. 

Overall I have to give this one a 3 out of 7. It makes some important points, but the execution is lackluster and it feels like a lot of the best ideas they could have done with this go left out. There is a weird un-impressiveness about this film in spite of having a mostly decent cast.

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