COMPANION: Not Your Typical Robot Buddy

There have been plenty of movies lately featuring AI robot companions where something goes decidedly wrong. From M3GAN to AfrAId, the ground has been pretty well covered. One might be asking themselves “what else is there to say on the matter?” And it would be a valid question. Usually if AI is in a film we know that at some point something is going to go horribly wrong and it is our job as an audience to root for its downfall, for the human element to come out on top. Companion takes everything we love about these movies and amps it up by one hundred, then makes us question everything. It’s a mystery and a bloodbath wrapped up in an edge of your seat thriller with twists and turns that even cynical old me didn’t see coming. It also reinforced my long held belief that for the most part, people are awful and cannot be trusted. Human beings will always find a way to justify their actions even when their actions eventually become unjustifiable.

Companion was written and directed by Drew Hancock (My Dead Ex) and produced by Zach Cregger (Barbarian) so we already knew, most likely, we were in for a fun and unique ride. On that, they delivered in spades. The film also brought with it a stacked cast of young and interesting actors featuring Jack Quaid (The Boys), Sophie Thatcher (Heretic), Lucas Gage (The White Lotus), Harvey Guillén (What We Do In The Shadows), Megan Suri (It Lives Inside), and Rupert Friend (Hitman: Agent 47). There wasn’t a weak link to be found, not here, not in this chain. Coupled with a fresh and fast paced story, it would have had to try very hard to fail. Spoiler alert. It did not.

Robots In Disguise

If you haven’t watched a trailer for this film, don’t. They way the movie starts, everything is a big mystery, we’re unaware of who is real and who is an android designed for companionship. The trailer gives that away in a big way. I will say however, if you’ve already had that spoiled for you, no you haven’t. They never told us there was only one companion… just saying. So the story begins, and a group of friends, including all those mentioned above, meet at a very luxurious home off to itself for a weekend of debauchery, or so we’re led to believe. Alternately there is a plot set in motion for a companion to kill the owner of the home so it can be framed for murder while the rest of them steal all the cash from the safe. What could possibly go wrong? I’m sure that will go perfectly. That always works out in situations like this. No hitches, just perfect plans. Frame murder, get money, as they say.

Of course there was a giant hitch in this plan when the companion bot realizes they are not human and have been manipulated into a terrible act, then decides to try and fix the situation. The humans involved do nothing but make everything worse for themselves and  a seek and destroy mission is implemented which continues to go horribly at every turn for anyone who has actual flesh and blood. At its heart this film is an allegory for dating terrible men but it is also a warning of the dangers of thinking you are the smartest person in the room when you are far from it. It’s a horror movie but at its core, I found, it’s really a dark comedy. A complete onion.

More Than Meets The Eye

The entire cast did an outstanding job of bringing these characters to life, as awful as some of them may have been, the standouts to me however were Thatcher, Gage, and Guillén. Thatcher had a way of selling exactly what she was thinking often without even having to open her mouth. It was astonishing. Gage continues to impress me with his layered and nuanced work, forcing me to find more and more things he’s in. He’s always solid. Then there is Guillén who, if you’ve only ever seen him on Shadows, has so much to offer any film or television project he touches. His comedy chops and timing are perfect and kept leaving me in stitches. Like I said though, the entire cast was exceptional. When they put this group together, they knocked it out of the park.

As for the look and feel of the film, for someone with few credits to his name, Hancock brought a sense of style and uniqueness to every scene. The movie looked beautiful, moved quickly, and the performances he got from his actors are why this film works at all. I honestly believe if he had given this script (that he wrote) to anyone else, the whole thing could have been butchered. I’m openly anticipating his next work.

Beep Boop Beep

Companion was a film that I went in knowing for sure what was going to happen and then it completely blew me away. It wasn’t at all what I expected and I respect it so much for that. It was fun in a time when people could use a little fun but it was also poignant and layered in some very real topics and thoughts on toxic relationships, toxic friendships and the need to be humble. It was dark and funny and bloody, a great horror thriller with just enough comedy to break up the tension, never enough to get annoying or take you out of the moment. That is hard to do.

This is definitely a movie I would tell my friends about and I just might do that later, force a bunch of them to sit down and pay attention to something I wish I had seen on the big screen. It’s 97 minutes of pure bonkers cinema and it deserves to be watched by as many people as possible. From the cast to the visual style, the story and the music, to the twists and turns that you will never see coming, its just purely and simply good time.

Companion is currently out in theaters.