By Ella Karoline Hendricks
In the same vein as Hulu’s “Fresh” and A24’s “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” comes a brand new horror movie centering around love in the 21st century. Modern, witty and unnerving, “Companion” centers around Iris and her partner and his friends on a secluded weekend cabin trip, where chaos ensues.
Warner Bros promises a new kind of love story. Sophie Thatcher stars as Iris in this hot new thriller alongside Jack Quaid as her partner, Josh. Jam-packed with lying, murder, and robbery, questions of computer sentience emerge as the weekend progresses in this action packed movie, layered with dark comedy and unbeatable aesthetics.
Iris is thoroughly and unquestionably in love with Josh. When she joins Josh on a weekend getaway to visit some of his friends, she is put into an uncomfortable situation when Josh’s friend, Kat (Megan Suri), instantly has a strong dislike toward her. They are joined by Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage) at Kat’s boyfriend’s house. The tensions rise when Sergey (Rupert Friend), Kat’s boyfriend, comes on to Iris.
Written and directed by Drew Hancock, who has previously written for TV series such as “Suburgatory” and “My Dead Ex,” Hancock displays an unwavering knowledge of how to balance elements of comedy and suspense to create a movie unsettlingly reflective of its time. This is Hancock’s directorial debut.
Spoilers ahead. This movie and review contain references to violence, gore, suicide, sexual content, implied sexual assault and explicit language.
If you like unsettling and thought-provoking movies laden with vintage aesthetics, this movie is for you. The movie is aesthetically very beautiful, taking place in a modern, woodsy cabin. The juxtaposition between the modern cabin and naturalistic setting is continued through Iris. Iris presents a contradiction to the modernity of the movie, with her character being dressed in sweet, vintage clothing in soft colors, compared to the other’s casual clothing. The soundtrack also has a vintage aesthetic, once again contradicting the violence and gore on screen.
When Sergey comes on to Iris and tries to sexually assault her, Iris stabs him, inciting the action of the movie. This is the moment when it is revealed to the audience that Iris is a robot and not a human. It is revealed that Iris is a companion, an AI-based girlfriend. Jack Quaid’s character, Josh, is able to control every aspect of Iris, from her looks to voice pitch to countenance to her intelligence level. This revelation sparks Iris into action, where she attempts to run away, creating a cat-and-mouse style chase that lasts the whole movie.
The idea of this movie is not entirely unique– questions of AI and computer sentience abound in modern day media. However, using the form of a sci-fi thriller to make this commentary works surprisingly well. This movie is engaging, funny, and shocking, while still making the audience evaluate their relationship with technology and reflect on how these factors specifically impact women and gender.
Kat and Iris are shown as foils within the story. Kat hates what Iris represents and almost pities her, as her only role is to serve Josh. The existence of Iris and other AI companions invalidates the existence of Kat and other real women, as it renders them unnecessary. It creates a really interesting commentary on what the implications of AI partners are and why people would want them in place of a person. It brings to light the harm of the objectification of women and showcases how some men would rather have an object than opposed to a full-fleshed romantic partner.
With Iris gaining sentience and personhood, it also brings into question the morality of AI. If we are constantly pushing to a place where AI reaches the level of personhood and self-realization, what are the ethics of treating them as objects? That is what the movie attempts to explore through Iris and the other “companion,” Patrick.
Patrick is Eli’s companion, and is revealed to be AI after the initial conflict of the movie. However, as the movie progresses, we learn that Patrick previously figured out he was AI yet continued to be with Eli as he loves him. This was supposed to be a sweet moment — perhaps the “new kind of love story” Warner Bros promises. However, it fell flat for me. Even though it is expressed that Eli truly loves Patrick, it does not negate the fact that Eli bought him, is in control of every aspect of his life and control’s how much Patrick “loves him.” It still felt odd to me by the end of the movie.
All of the human characters are killed by the end, reflective of their karma for their actions in killing Sergey through Iris. The plan was for Josh to turn off Iris’ safety mechanisms so she could act in self-defense toward Sergey and kill him. Josh agreed to “share” Iris with Sergey, resulting in her stabbing him. It is here we see Iris has a full range of thoughts, feelings and intelligence. When she returns to the house, visibly distressed and covered in blood, Josh turns her off.
Josh turns Iris back on to explain the situation before shutting her down permanently. The plan centered around Iris killing Sergey so he and Kat could rob him and blame Iris’ actions as a horrific malfunction. Of course, Josh does not succeed in shutting her off and thus begins the violence-filled chase to get her back and complete the plan. Throughout the movie, Josh repeatedly underestimates Iris, ultimately leading to his demise.
The movie ends with a really interesting scene that encapsulates the point of the movie. Iris is freed from all her safeguards, the control ipad disabled, and it is just a confrontation between Josh and Iris. Josh launches into a monologue where he is still able to physically overpower Iris with no technological intervention. It is only when he thinks he has the upper hand and is about to kill her that she is able to outsmart him and kill him.
This scene and the movie as a whole creates a commentary about men who parade as “nice guys” that reveal themselves to be violent misogynists. It also highlights the fact that this type of man in the first place would be the ones to buy a “sex robot” as they already view women as objects. It is not a far jump to think that they would go to these lengths and use human women in the same way.
In the same spirit as “Promising Young Woman” and “Fresh,” I’d put this movie in the category of a “Good for Her” movie. All in all, I thought it was an entertaining, feminist movie with a strong female heroine. Is it revolutionary? No. But it still accomplishes its goal of making people reconsider how we view women and technology.