I’m of the firm belief that it’s only a matter of time to progress from drones and computers run by artificial intelligence programming to turn into robotic butlers or extending bionic human applications beyond ability aids.
However, the entertainment and technology industries have also pondered those exact things longer than I’ve been alive.
Still, I’ve enjoyed pop culture explorations like the Terminator, Matrix, Transformers, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Bladerunner – just to name a few.
Companion follows in the same vein and it’s a struggle to not spoil anything for you.
Overall, it is shot beautifully in a very lush environment, and the actors have more than enough chemistry to make the movie feel fresh.
Plus, there are just enough moments of comedy that help keep the storyline from being completely bleak – if you’re a fan of dark humor, that is.
Companion is an American science fiction thriller film written and directed by Drew Hancock.
It stars Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, and Rupert Friend.
The movie is 97 minutes long and rated R for strong violence, sexual content, and language throughout.
Iris (Thatcher) recounts the moment that she met her boyfriend Josh (Quaid) at a grocery store as the introductory voice-over for the movie.
The movie cuts to Iris and Josh traveling to an isolated lake house to meet their friends: Kat (Suri), Eli (Gullen), and Patrick (Gage) for the weekend.
Once there, they also meet Kat’s Russian boyfriend Sergey (Friend) who also owns the lake house.
The group eats dinner together and spends the night dancing.
During dinner, Eli and Patrick, themselves a couple, recount the night they met.
Later in the night, Kat confesses her disdain for Iris to her, explaining that the “idea” of Iris makes her feel replaceable.
The next day, Sergey attempts to rape Iris at the lake, confessing it was Kat’s idea and that he had permission.
He refuses to stop and she kills him by stabbing him in the neck.
Blood-soaked, Iris returns to the house and attempts to explain before Josh tells her, “Iris, go to sleep.”
The group tries to figure out how to handle Iris and corroborate their stories about the murder while she’s “asleep.”
Minutes later, Iris regains consciousness and finds herself tied to a chair.
Josh confesses the truth: she is an advanced companion robot who can be controlled by his smartphone.
He spends some time convincing her of the truth before Kat drags him away to have a private conversation.
While Josh is distracted, Iris escapes, steals Josh’s phone, and flees into the forest.
She experiments with her settings on the phone, increasing her intelligence from 40% to 100%.
It is revealed that Josh jail broke Iris’ settings, turning off her inability to do harm.
He and Kat had planned for Iris to kill Sergey in order to steal the $12 million Sergey kept in his personal safe, inviting Eli and Patrick along to help with the alibi.
However, things get worse for the friends as Iris is desperate to escape and will do anything and everything she can.
Plus, greed lends a hand in destroying the group from the inside out.
Overall, it’s a great movie with one foot in social commentary territory and the other pondering how scary advancing technology can become.
I’m with the majority of critics on this one and fully endorse the film – the juxtaposition of violence in such beautiful scenery is best served on the big screen.
