The Amateur (2025)

Director: James Hawes
Screenplay: Ken Nolan, Gary Spinelli
Cast: Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitriona Balfe, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Laurence Fishburne
Cinematography: Martin Ruhe
Editing: Jonathan Amos
Score: Volker Bertelmann
Genre: Vigilante action spy
Runtime: 123 minutes

Charlie (Rami Malek), a basement-dwelling CIA encryption nerd, is widowed when his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) is killed in a botched hostage situation during a terror attack at a London hotel. Uncovering workplace corruption on a higher level and knowing nothing will be done in regards to Sarah’s death, Charlie blackmails his superiors to give him basic field preparation in order to seek some retribution.

Blinded by grief, Charlie believes he has what it takes to avenge his spouse. “You couldn’t even beat a 90 year old nun in an arm wrestling match” he’s amusingly told at one point. He struggles to fire a loaded gun. He’s out of his depths. Not completely. He’s scrawny of build, but has the expertise and technology to surveil people and craft explosives. Picture Q undertaking the duties of James Bond. Underestimate weedy tech guys at your peril!

Obviously taking lives is wrong. But you can’t blame Charlie; he’s got this underdog quality; a minnow versus a shiver of sharks. I could not help rooting for him to succeed in his quest for vengeance in the face of unassailable odds.

This approach to the spy/action genre is refreshing. I counted only two short fight sequences (one of which Charlie features in) so overall it’s less brawling, more cat-and-mouse game-oriented, which makes it especially enthralling. Amateur (couple of) hour(s)? Absolutely not. Malek is a fine actor, perfectly cast as the unlikely action star, and there’s strong support from Laurence Fishburne as Charlie’s training mentor.

My rating: 8 / 10

Companion (2025)

Director: Drew Hancock
Screenplay: Drew Hancock
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillen, Rupert Friend
Cinematography: Eli Born
Editing: Brett W. Bachman, Josh Ethier
Score: Hrishikesh Hirway
Genre: Science fiction thriller
Runtime: 97 minutes

The opening sequence of ‘Companion‘ put me in mind of the last scene of ‘The Stepford Wives’; a young woman pushing a trolley down the aisle of a grocery store, everything seems a little too immaculate, there’s a heightened sense of reality. When the woman, Iris (Sophie Thatcher), locks eyes with Josh (Jack Quaid), there’s an instant spark between them.

Josh takes his new ‘girlfriend’ Iris with him on a trip to a lake house to meet his friends – the twist: she’s a companion robot. She’s designed to serve her owner; to satisfy their every whim. Anything they want – she must cater for. The concept really exposes the solipsism of human nature. Via a smartphone, the user can modify the bot’s intelligence level, eye colour, voice, language, and personality to suit their fancy. Ethically abhorrent.

Hold on a minute. He’s fucking an android? How does that even work…anatomically? Where does he insert his…? Josh gives me the ick, so my sympathies lie with Iris when the shit hits the fan. She’s not so docile; she bytes. And she’s not chuffed as (micro)chips to be kept as Josh’s personal robotic sex slave.

A gripping, wild ride (predictable in parts); it flips the script on the tired ‘robot malfunctions and goes berserk’ trope, giving the mistreated automaton a consciousness; something resembling humanity. The faulty wiring instead lies with humankind; their insatiable greed is the root of any chaos caused, rather than the blame being placed on ‘bad tech’ as usual.

My rating: 7 / 10

Strange Darling (2023)

Director: JT Mollner
Screenwriter: JT Mollner
Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Barbara Hershey, Ed Begley Jr.
Cinematography: Giovanni Ribisi
Editing: Christopher Robin Bell
Score: Craig DeLeon
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 96 minutes

We’ve got 6 chapters in this story of a one-night stand gone wrong, they’re all jumbled up and out of sequence (apart from Chapter 6, which closes the tale). It concerns a hookup between a man (Kyle Gallner) and a woman (Willa Fitzgerald) that has dire consequences for both parties, but done so through an arthouse lens.

Movies that use nonlinear plots are taking a risk with the audience’s patience and comprehension – the clever ones can get away with it. This wasn’t inventive or distinct enough to pull this storytelling technique off however. It’s an attempt to do something artsy with a narrative about a serial killer (who may or may not be real, director JT Mollner is cagey on the inspiration in interviews).

Whilst initially engaging, with each chapter title card flashing up (accompanied by an excerpt of classical music), I grew a little weary. At the start, which – of course – is Chapter 3, we see Fitzgerald’s character (simply named ‘The Lady’) fleeing from a man (credited as ‘The Demon’, played by Gallner). Then comes Chapters 5, 1, 4, 2, then 6. The twisty plot means we don’t follow a simple path and this allows the whole story to be turned up on its head – but this didn’t land the blow it intended (I question everything) and I didn’t feel the characters were compelling enough for me to care about what happens to them. The dynamic between the duo was interesting in Chapter 1 and I liked the neon blue lighting of the motel they’ve parked outside of; the way the light flooded the car. Gallner does his best with the material he’s given but by the sixth chapter, Fitzgerald is slightly irritating, almost as much as the soppy soundtrack.

Strange Darling? More like strained, darling.

My rating: 5 / 10