Companion Review

“There were two times I felt truly happy. First, the day I met Josh; second, the day I killed him.” – Iris

That quote isn’t a spoiler – it’s featured on the trailer, and it’s one of the first lines in the movie. Speaking of trailer – the one shown in cinemas for this movie is a masterclass of misdirection. Having seen it a few times, I believed, at first, it was a chick flick, with maybe a perverse 50 Shades twist, as the girl victim was handcuffed to a chair at a dining table and held her free palm over a lit candle. It was blatantly being marketed as a date movie, especially as the release date here in the UK is a week before Valentine’s. Basically, I was on the verge of dismissing it as being of no interest. It took the trailer shown online to completely dispel that notion. Now THAT trailer showed the film for what it is – a horror/sci-fi thriller with a dark vein of humour running through it. NOW we’re talking.

There seem to be a lot of films around at the moment that explore the possibilities of robotic companions or sexbots, driven by artificial intelligence. It might well all start off innocently enough, but as the saying goes, “f*ck around and find out”. (Subservience (2024) with Megan Fox, currently showing on Netflix is a very good one.) It ties in with the current hysteria being promoted in the news media about A.I. I guess. After all, their business isn’t reporting actual news, it’s keeping us scared. But enough of my cynical world view, let’s take a look at the film in question.

The rogue A.I. sub-genre seems to be gathering momentum at the moment, not only with this and Subservience, but there’s Megan 2.0 coming to cinemas shortly. One of my favourite films of last year was A.I. Let’s not forget past triumphs like Ex Machina (If you haven’t seen that one, do yourself a favour and check it out immediately.) It’s a current hot topic that film makers are mining pretty skilfully.

Companion starts out innocently enough, as Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) arrive at a remote cabin in the woods for a weekend with some of their friends. It’s apparent within a few minutes that Iris is more (or less, depending on your point of view) than she seems. She isn’t human, she’s a machine. They call her a robot in the film, but android is probably a more accurate term. (Android being a robot made to resemble a human.) Iris is perfect in every detail. She’s loyal, attentive, eager to please, loving – because that’s her programming. (I’d say she’s practically a slave and THAT would be an original film worth making, except that avenue was explored in Star Trek: The Next Generation around 35 years ago.)

The year the film is set isn’t established, but I’d say it’s a future very close to where we are now, with electric, self-driving cars and so on, and the level of tech shown in the cabin. Nothing too far from the present day.

On their first morning, their host, Sergei (Rupert Friend – who would have made a far better Kraven the Hunter, in my opinion) is by the lakeside with Iris, and being the kind of person he is, he decides to take advantage of the situation. Iris defends herself, with lethal force. Okay, you may well ask what about Asimov’s laws of robotics? Do they not apply in this situation? Let’s recap those…

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

I’d say she breaks all three. How?

It seems that this isn’t just your average rogue robot on the loose story, Josh has reprogrammed her, and she’s now lethal. It’s all part of a murder plot, which has now gone very badly astray for Josh and the other weekenders. In getting hold of Josh’s phone, she also boosts her own intelligence from 40 to 100. She’s now stronger, smarter and more aggressive than those hunting her in order to restore her to factory settings.

Companion is a film that I was looking forward to seeing, but yet again – it’s a film that delivers more than I could possibly have hoped for. Murder, intrigue, plot twists that you won’t see coming and a breakout performance by Sophie Thatcher who I hadn’t seen onscreen since The Boogieman in 2023. Companion serves her talents much better than The Boogieman did – for details, click here.

In the final analysis, and I can’t believe I’m giving out such high scores so far this year, apart from the lamentable Wolf Man which deserves a rolled-up newspaper across its nose, I can’t possibly give this movie less than the maximum score based not only on the performances, but also on the sheer insane entertainment level of the plot. (At this ludicrous rate, the end of year Good, Bad & Fugly list is writing itself.) This is writer/director Drew Hancock’s first feature, but I’m feeling the urge to check out some of his TV work. He’s a true talent.

Rob Rating = 10