Iris isn’t stunningly beautiful or wickedly smart. She doesn’t captivate a room with her humor or sex appeal. She’s more the girl-next-door type: devoted, caring, consistent and sweet.
In fact, when she and Josh first met, it was as rom-com, meet-cute adorable as possible. It was, in a sense, the right way someone like Iris might meet a guy and quickly fall in love.
Their meeting was an awkward, funny, and oh-so-sweet moment at the supermarket. A memory worth holding on to. In fact, Iris and Josh’s first accidental meeting was one of those clear-the-grey-cloud moments.
Iris has always thought that people tend to stumble through life in a sort of fog: They see the world around them but don’t really see it. And then some special happening clears that cloud. It lets the sun in, and it helps them recognize that life can be filled with hope and happiness.
Meeting Josh was the first time one of those special moments ever happened to Iris. Their relationship has been loving and supportive. They fit. They work. He makes her feel good about herself and good about the world.
Truth be told, one of the only drawbacks to their relationship is Iris’ doubts about herself. The two of them are heading up to a weekend retreat with some of Josh’s friends, for example. And Iris is feeling a bit weird about it.
Iris knows that Kat, the girlfriend of the getaway estate’s owner, doesn’t like her. Maybe it’s because Iris is kind of plain next to Kat and the others. Maybe it’s because she’s awkward or too openly sincere about things like love and devotion. She isn’t sure.
But when Kat and some of the others look at her, Iris feels self-conscious. Which in turn makes her want to cling more to Josh. And that can be a problem, too.
What Iris doesn’t know is that there are bad things being planned for that weekend. Cruel and hurtful things are about to happen. And in the process of it all, Iris is about to learn something very important about herself. She’s going to understand more about how she’s, uh, programmed, if you will.
People sometimes have those clear-the-grey-cloud moments in life. The first one for Iris was when she met Josh.
The second of those moments will be … when she kills him.
[Note: The following sections contain spoilers.]
If you have seen the movie trailers or any publicity materials for this film, you know that Iris is a robot. She was built for Josh, and her memories were tailored for their connection and relationship. In that light, we see her as an innocent who sincerely loves and sincerely supports others. She cannot lie. And even though Josh plans to use her harshly, she initially only wants to help, not hurt.
There are no direct spiritual references here. But with the right turn of the head you can see the film, in a sense, presenting a tweaked version of the biblical story of man falling from grace. In this case, however, the innocent AI is corrupted by its maker and then takes steps to find its own self-defense and “salvation.”
Iris was built as a companion and sexbot for Josh. But all of her actions and choices in that area are, in essence, blameless because she was programmed to make them.
When workers deliver a packaged Iris to Josh’s door, a tech makes it clear that Iris is “yours to do … whatever you want to with.” Later in the movie another tech talks about the many perverse and foul things—from twisted sexuality to open torture—that owners do to their sentient robots.
We hear Josh’s vocal reactions to their sex from behind a closed door on one occasion. And we see them having noisy intercourse in bed together. (They are both covered by sheets, but we see Josh’s bare chest.)
Iris is shown in the shower twice. One time she’s seen from the shoulders up. And the second instance reveals her naked back (waist up) and a glimpse of breast from the back.
Someone sneers at Josh’s choice to take Iris as his girlfriend, making crude comments about his sexual proclivities. Two gay men recount their first time meeting. They kiss repeatedly and passionately. Someone comments about a man’s anatomy.
Iris is repeatedly referred to as a sexbot or “f—bot.”
The owner of the “cabin” where everyone is staying, makes a sexual pass at Iris. He physically pulls her close and begins groping and kissing her …
… but the above-mentioned physical assault terrifies Iris; she pushes the man away, causing him to stumble and hit is head. He gets up and slaps her, and after manhandling her he pins her down and begins to choke her. Then Iris reaches for a knife (that Josh put in her pocket) and jams it into the man’s jugular. The gushing gore covers her chest and face in blood.
Iris is then pummeled and thrown around in a variety of situations. She’s tackled and sent sprawling down a large hillside. She’s thrown repeatedly into walls and shelving units, thrown across tables, battered with objects and shot at. Her head is slammed repeatedly onto the floor. Iris is forced to hold her hand over a burning flame as it sizzles and burns. Then her arm bursts into flames as she looks on in horror. She is forced to put a pistol to her head and shoot herself in the head. (We also see a personal reflection when she imagines someone shooting her in the forehead.)
We later find out that Josh had “modded” Iris to override her normal robotic safety systems and increase her defense program. He uses this mod on another robot as well, raising the robot’s aggression levels to 100% and bypassing safety firewalls.
A man has his fingers smashed in a car door and the car then backs over his foot. A police officer is beaten to the ground and his face is literally pulped by repeated strikes. A man is shot in the forehead. A woman is stabbed in the back with a large kitchen knife. She then stumbles to the couch and bleeds out. Someone is shot in the stomach, the bullet exiting bloodily through his back. A man has an electric corkscrew jammed into his temple where it gorily burrows into his brain.
The dialogue is spattered with some 70 f-words and more than a dozen s-words. In addition, there are multiple uses of the words “h—,” “a–” and “b–ch.” God’s and Jesus’ names are abused more than 15 times (God is linked with “d–n” on seven of those misuses).
Someone displays an offensive hand gesture.
While at the weekend retreat, the party members regularly drink wine, mixed drinks and small glasses of vodka and whiskey. (Some become quite tipsy, and one reports a hangover the next day.) One woman takes Xanax on repeated occasions, once in combination with a large swig of vodka.
A man smokes a cigar.
There are a number of toilet gags in the mix. When Iris tells her first lie, she notes, “Hmm, kinda fun.”
We’re the fly in the ointment.
Whereas other sci-fi flicks have worried over the idea that AI will someday grow smarter, become evil and contribute to our demise, Companion flips the script. It suggests that we humans are the issue. It is our fallen nature, the muck we let seep out of us when we don’t think anyone is watching, that will someday corrupt and destroy our devoted and innocent AI creations, the film says.
That concept is made even more compelling by writer/director Drew Hancock’s twist-filled script and lead Sophie Thatcher’s applause-worthy acting chops.
On the other hand, many may think it counterintuitive that a bloody and foul sci-fi/horror pic would be, in a sense, examining the idea of mankind’s sinful, fallen nature. And make no mistake: Companion gushes with spewed profanity, mulched flesh and punctured-artery gore as it makes its baleful point.
But therein lies the irony … and the illustration, I suppose.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
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