Let's get this spoiler out of the way -- yes, she's a fuck-bot. Their words, not mine.
This is yet another one of those movies that expects you to have come in cold, not seen the trailers, not even seen the poster, which all reveal she is a bot. Or maybe its just a conceit in these kinds of movies wherein they don't give AF whether you have been exposed to plot spoilers and just make the movie with the familiar plot construction and reveal, as one would expect.
And it was revealed that Kent indeed was going to come into this movie cold, having been told by someone podcast related to view it without ANY exposure not even the above. Still, I wonder how long it will take him to guess what is coming, from the opening scenes.
Anywayz.
It starts with Iris's (Sophie Thatcher, Prospect) recollection of how she met Josh (Jack Quaid, The Boys), their meet-cute, how perfect it was, how much she loves him, and... how she ends up killing him. From the get go, Iris doesn't look quite right, maybe just in comparison sitting next to schlumpy Josh, as they small-talk during the driverless-car trip. She has a precise look: vintage looking mini dress, hair band, distinctive but understated makeup choices. She is also anxious about the weekend away, giving you the sense his friends don't really like her. Since you did she the movie poster and/or the trailer, you might snicker because she doesn't know she's a bot, and his friends might not like the idea of him bringing his fuck-bot to a weekend getaway. But who knows, maybe robot-girlfriends are a thing in this driverless-car near future, and not just mere appliances better left at home, plugged in next to the bedside table.
Anywayz, yes, there is tension at the house they arrive. Patrick (Lukas Gage, Road House) and Eli (Harvey Guillén, Reacher) are just lovely, PDA heavy but warm and accepting. But Kat (Megan Suri, It Lives Inside) and her douchey boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend, Canary Black), who owns this remote country lake house, are a little more distant. Kat distinctly doesn't like Iris, and Iris knows it, and we know Kat likely doesn't like a lot of people. But everyone loves Josh. But you get the idea they were college friends, when they were all very different people.
And then Iris kills Sergey. He says that Kat gave him permission to have sex with her, but how is she supposed to respond to that -- remember, we are not supposed to "know" she's a bot yet. He forces himself on her, she knocks him away and he responds by trying to strangle her. But, Iris found a pen knife mysteriously placed in her pocket. Next scene, she is covered in blood and looking very distraught and upset.
"Iris, go to sleep."
Yah she shuts down cuz she's a bot. A fuck-bot that Josh bought, and then jail-broke in order to kill Sergey, who Josh and Kat have conspired to kill, so they can all take his money. Sergey presents as an evil Russian oligarch / gangster type, but really he's just a douche, and Kat is his self-serving mistress. Except the plan doesn't go as... planned, when Iris gets hold of Josh's smart phone with all his controls over her, dials up her own intelligence, and then plots to escape.
I use the term fuck-bot, which is an incredibly contemptible term since everything we see about Iris, and eventually Patrick, is that they can be sentient, but even if these androids were designed to play a comforting companion role in someone's life, that they can have sex says everything about who would usually want one. The movie is not about exploring the morality & psychology of such choices, as its entire tone is dark-comedy, wherein Iris is the heroine, and Josh, a toxic misogynist, is most definitely the villain. I mean, no matter the means, they were plotting to kill someone. Iris plays the part of both patsy and weapon.
The style of the movie follows all the patterns of those thrillers, like Becky, where someone is trapped in the woods, and has to use their wiles, and violence, to get away. I would have preferred if the sub-genre stylings were the window dressing, instead of the bot and AI and technology exploration being so, but sometimes a movie generates the best questions by leaving them to you to ask.
I really liked this one.
Kent is about to publish his post about the movie, so we'll leave it to the Comments to compare.
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