Category: Film Review

Set during modern times, Companion follows Iris, an AI companion bot that, initially believes she is human but soon finds out she is not and that much of her life is manufactured by her perverted owner, Josh.

Josh and Iris set off on a rural retreat to Sergeys “cabin”. This thing is no cabin, more of a rural mansion. Once there, they meet with Sergey, Kat (Sergeys “human companion” and friend of Josh), Eli (friend of Kat and Josh) and Patrick (Eli’s boyfriend). Iris heads to the pool and is joined by Sergey who attempts to force himself on her but Iris fights back and kills Sergey. This is when things take a turn.

She retruns to the others, bloodied and upset. Josh shuts her down as they panic and he admits he has modified her, preventing fail safes from kicking in that would prevent such an occasion. Tied up Iris is turned back on by Josh who explains the grim reality that she is a bot and that he uses her for “companionship”. Iris is heart broken as she told her love is fake and her life is a lie.

Iris, while Josh isn’t paying attention, breaks free and uses Josh’s phone to enhance her intelligence. As this happens Kat and Josh tell Eli that Iris has been modified so she would kill Sergey so they could steal the $12 million stashed in his house. Eli and Patrick were brought along to merely back there story of Iris killing Sergey and aid their plea of innocence.

The group split up as they hunt for Iris, Patrick admits to Eli he knows he is a bot too but loves Eli. Eli Struggles with Iris while holding a gun and Iris kills Eli. Iris attempts to flea in Josh’s car but is stopped by an officer who is killed by Patrick. Patrick takes Iris back. Kat tries to flea with her part of the money but is also killed by Patrick after Josh tells him to stop Kat.

Josh calls Empathix (the bot manufacturers) to collect her as she is malfunctioning. Josh lowers Iris’s intelligence to 0 and orders her to shoot herself in hopes it does enough damage to terminate her or wipe her system. He is wrong. The Empathix employees confirm all major hardware is in the abdomen. Josh orders Patrick to kill the employees but Teddy (one of them) is saved by Iris due to rebooting. She forces Patrick to remember the memories of Eli breaking the link with Josh, but leading Eli to kill himself.

Teddy then removes the ability for the app to control Iris and she returns to Josh. They scuffle and she kills Josh with an electric corkscrew. Iris is free and she leaves the property with the money.

Companion does a fantastic job at playing with your emotions as you experience Iris’s rollercoaster of emotions as her life is thrown upside down. Sophie Thatcher (Iris) does a great job of demonstrating the initial love Iris bares for Josh, followed by the soul crashing realisation that it is all a lie. The viewer truly sympathises with the character and as the film progresses, roots for Josh’s demise at the hands of Iris. Jack Quaid does wanders at making the viewer hate his character (Josh), to the point when Iris kills him, though graphic, feels joy. Luke Gage (Patrick), Megan Suri (Kat) and Harvey Guillén (Eli) all did fantastic jobs in aiding this film to be one of the best of 2025.

For Drew Hancock, for whom this film seems unlike anything he has done before, and the only other work I have seen is Blue Mountain State and Mr Pickles, this has placed him firmly on a list to be watched as I expect more fantastic work from him.

The story is immersive and grips the viewer constantly as it provides twists and turns for the emotions constantly while fuelling you with adrenaline and just enough gore to make you slightly turn your head and say ‘God damn’. The only gripe I have with the story, was not its slightly cheesy ending in which she lives life happy, because boy did she earn it, but instead was the money. I would have preferred more insight in to why the money was important that they took such drastic action rather than just greed. I wanted more context.

Overall, the film is a fantastic piece that, going back 10 years, would probably be considered future/dystopian sci-fi but instead flies closely to the possible reality of what is to come from the AI robotics industry. It plays on a topic that is rife with speculation and delivers a great watch that is sure to make you watch the industry closely and perhaps not order that Tesla Bot Gen 3, especially if you have perverted intentions.

Set in the modern day United States, A House of Dynamite follows high ranking military, intelligence and government officials as they face off against, potentially, the gravest threat of modern times, a direct nuclear attack to the centre of the continental United States.

With an 18 minute long window, the military must locate the region of launch, identify the enemy, terminate the threat, decide on an appropriate level of response and should all else fail, set in motion a plan of evacuation. The film is essentially split in to three sections in which the viewer is shown the perspectives of the different levels of the response chain. It would be fair to assume with this plot that the film would provide a high level of action that keeps the blood flowing and the adrenaline pumping. You are mistaken. The film takes a very different approach and instead keeps the viewers attention by perhaps the greatest blue balling I have experienced for years. The viewer is thrown in to a situation in which a nuclear warhead has been launched by an unidentified enemy, with unknown intentions and no idea what triggered such a situation. This remains the premise of the story throughout with little extra information provided throughout.

The star studded cast features, but not limited to, Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris & Anthony Ramos, who as a whole and individually give a fantastic performance in which makes the viewer feel fear, uncertainty and sadness. The story is the process and not the people. Each of their stories are vastly different but not extraordinary and what would be expected of the typical person in their role, further immersing the viewer in the believability of the situation.

The set design can only be commended. Perhaps the greatest gripe I have with films like this is the unrealistic computer graphics used to depict defence and government systems, but I felt satisfied with the the visuals. The sets themselves were immersive and believable and added realism and immersion to the viewing experience. Costume design was done perfectly, in which it was easy to identify the role of a character and adds the the characters believability.

The reality is that if you go in watching this film with the belief and hopes you are about to watch a typical run and gun action drama in which the United States prevails, you will be disappointed. If you go in thinking there will be a clear plot, you will be disappointed. If you go in thinking you will get any answers to the questions you develop through out, you will be disappointed. If you think you will get a conclusive ending, guess what? You will be disappointed. In truth you will be riddled with questions not just about the main plot but the characters too. When the film concluded I shouted “are you f***king kidding me!”. I had not been this invested in a very long time, and I loved it.

The film is an experience, not a story. It aims to demonstrate the modern day threat of nuclear weapons and their proliferation. It provides a stark reminder that while they can act as a deterrent and we have systems in place to neutralise them, they still pose a very real and serious threat and the window in which we have to deal with such a situation, in reality is minimal. It strikes fear at the heart of your morals, and it achieves this fantastically. The film is a true piece of art and Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Oppenheim and the cast executed it phenomenally.