Companion movie review by Movie Review Mom

MOVIE TITLE: Companion

This dramatic horror movie is now playing in theaters and on Fandango at Home

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 37 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B-

IN A NUTSHELL:

This film is timely with the growing strength of AI and robotics. I recently read an article about men who were asked whether or not they would prefer a human woman or a realistic robot. An alarmingly high percentage of men said they preferred a robot. Yikes! The film does a great job exploring humanity’s evolving relationship with technology.

This is the feature debut of writer/director Drew Hancock. Nice start! The story is about a weekend getaway with friends at a remote cabin that turns into chaos after it’s revealed that one of the guests is not who they say they are.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Lots of blood and gore. One of the characters is covered in blood throughout the majority of the film.
Violent murders
A married man goes after other women
Lots of sound effects during “intimate moments”
Lots of profanity, including F-bombs
Gay kissing
We see a charred hand after it’s held over fire.

THEMES:

Emotional support robots
Feminism
Consent
Murder
Control
Self-awareness
Purpose
Greed
Toxic relationships

THINGS I LIKED:

The young cast did a great job and includes Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, and Harvey Guillen. As soon as Jack Quaid smiles, you instantly know he’s the son of actor Dennis Quaid.
Speaking of Sophie Thatcher, she did a great job in the horror Heretic and seems to have a knack for horror movies. I was even more impressed with her performance in this film.
The color palette attempts to make this dark comedy feel like bubble gum.
Twists. I love twists.
There is a lot of dark humor.
There are some “meet cutes” that will give you the romance vibes.
Is it intentional that “Iris” is “Siri” backwards?
On the one hand, the movie is a bloody slasher horror. On the other hand, the movie explores toxic relationships where one person has all the control and the other person tolerates it because they’re so in love. On the third hand…(no, that’s not a thing)…the movie really makes you think about how you use technology to enhance your life and maybe even substitue it for human connection.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

There is some jumping around in the timeline that might confuse viewers.
You’ll enjoy this more if you don’t watch the trailer and don’t know anything about the story. The trailer reveals way too much and spoils some of the surprises.
I thought the final twist was pretty lame.
There are a lot of plot holes in this story, so don’t overthink this too much.
The worst part of this experience is that the movie’s poster gives away the big reveal/twist.

FUNNY LINES:

“Are you f’n robo-shaming me?” – Eli (Harvey Guillen)
“Look at that! My very first lie. I see the appeal.” – Iris (Sophie Thatcher)

INTERESTING LINES:

“It’s just programming.” – Josh (Jack Quaid)
“There were two times I felt truly happy. First, the day I met Josh; second, the day I killed him.” – Iris (Sophie Thatcher)
“It’s like there’s this thick black cloud covering everything, like we see the world, b ut we don’t really see the world, you know. We’re all just stumbling around directionless. No sense of meaning, no sense of purpose.” – Iris (Sophie Thatcher)