When we were talking about writer/director Drew Hancock’s debut Companion at the beginning of the year, the tricky part came when we did not delve into the twist immediately. I only saw the first teaser, which already gave me an idea of the premise based on that and the poster alone, and I was partially correct. Still, I went into this 50% cold from not watching the second trailer in the hopes of going into this knowing as little as possible. Who knows what will be in store, considering producer Zach Cregger and his team behind Barbarian are part of this. With Companion, it’s a surprisingly great tech thriller that’s comedically entertaining.
What’s the Story: It was love at first sight when Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) had a meet-cute while at the supermarket. We flash forward to them going on a weekend getaway to a remote lake house to meet up with Josh’s friend Kat (Megan Suri), her Russian mobster boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend), and another couple, Eli (Harvey Guillén) and his longtime partner Patrick (Lukas Gage). Everything seems to go as perfectly as they can until an incident involving Iris and a sexual assault leads to a complicated situation. As it turns out, she is a sex companion robot who Josh controls to give her devoted attention to him, a shocking revelation she discovers about herself.
Companion can be a difficult film to be vague about, despite the reveal happening close to around 30 minutes in, and it is clever at providing some awkwardness from the dialogue prior that keeps us unsure of what’s going on underneath the surface. Once the discovery of who Iris is takes place, it’s a credit to Hancock for delivering a fresh idea that never dulls out. This isn’t just another forgettable sci-fi horror movie. What we have with Companion is a dark tale about abusive relationships in a futuristic world we buy into and how our relationships with the technology, particularly with AI, we use might cause more damage to ourselves than we think.
Speaking of which, Sophie Thatcher’s performance is proof she’s becoming one of my favorite actresses to look out for after her work in this and, most recently, Heretic. She’s able to make Iris the most humanized and nuanced robot when she knows her life is a lie, convincingly so, and her character becoming self-aware to get out of this mess can’t be overstated. We find ourselves deeply invested in Iris’s journey, rooting for her throughout. And I love seeing Jack Quaid in anything nowadays, as we see Josh have this sort of charismatic charm. However, he has this passive aggressiveness towards Iris, only to realize he’s the absolute worst in how he’s controlling her through an app on his phone. Between this and Scream, Quaid certainly has a quality of playing guys who turn out douchey. I tried to imagine how their relationship would turn out in the end. While it’s predictable, the story, which turns into Ex Machina that toes the line with its tones well enough, has something to say about what it means to be fully in love and what can be controlled emotionally.
Because the marketing might be similar to last year’s Abigail, where it would’ve been a bigger surprise not knowing the twist, it’ll be hard for anyone to mention what follows after the first act and tip-toe around it. That said, Hancock’s effort combines that mix of thrills and sci-fi within a clever commentary worth recommending.
Overall, Companion won’t be remembered as the deepest comedic thriller, and it didn’t go as crazy as I had imagined. Still, for an original film early in the year, writer/ director Drew Hancock delivers a fun time exploring power dynamics with two standout performances from Thatcher and Quaid. Because of how good this turned out, I am curious to see what this filmmaker does next in Hollywood.
DC's Take 