Companion

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I am going to start this review off by saying that the best way to experience this movie is by knowing absolutely nothing going into it. If you have watched the trailer, then you know what this is all about. If you read the rest of this review, then you'll know what it's all about. But if one goes in blind, the film will come across as much, much better. It's the perfect example of a movie where the less said about it, the better because the film's big twist happens barely into it, but not at the end. Kinda like last year's 'Trap.'

So, if you've read up to this point, have NOT seen the trailer, and are interested in what I consider a well-paced and well-executed thriller with a side of "cautionary tale" to it, go check it out! It's only February, and it's the second film that surprised me, delivering something I didn't expect, but in a good way (the first being 'Presence'). Anyway, now that I've said my piece about that, feel free to read on, whether you've already seen the movie, had things spoiled for you by the trailer, or simply don't care. But again, the big reveal is worth going in blind for!

The film opens with a woman named Iris (Sophie Thatcher), who gives us a charming story about how she met her boyfriend, Josh (Jack Quaid), while grocery shopping. It sets us up for a lovely story, but Iris' narration also foreshadows some dark things that will happen. Before long, Iris and Josh become a couple and decide to take a vacation with some of Josh's close friends to a lakehouse in the middle of nowhere, illustrated by the pair following a road that doesn't appear on Google Maps, which turns out to be a driveway.

Among Josh's friends and acquaintances are the rather "catty" Kat (Megan Suri), gay couple Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage), and Kat's apparent boyfriend and owner of the house and surrounding lake property, Sergey (Rupert Friend). While Iris is apprehensive about hanging out with these people, as she feels unwelcome and unliked, things don't go too badly over the first night. However, the following day, Sergey gets a bit too handsy with Iris, and, well, that's where the movie sincerely kicks off with a good amount of "wow" to it as long as you go into it blind. The trailer totally dropped the ball on how good this film could have been.

The rest of the film plays out like your average bottle movie, set in the surrounding area of one particular house. It turns into a survival story, but a heist story as well, and again, a bit of a cautionary tale, all blended with little to no filler, trying to keep it interesting. I once heard someone compare the movie 'Get Out' as far as setting, pacing, quality, and pleasant surprises went, and it's almost a perfect comparison. Hell, there's even a bit of dark humour here and there, which adds to the film's horror elements. I think I'd say it's similar to 'Becky' as well.

Now, for those indifferent, it's time to get into spoiler territory, at least as far as the trailer spoils things for you. In case you didn't put it together, the title, 'Companion,' relates to precisely what it sounds like it does. Iris is Josh's Companion AI who, when put under pressure by Sergey's grabby hands, commits murder, which goes against her coding. But we soon discover that Josh programmed things like this on purpose for the aforementioned heist portion of the movie. Soon, Iris finds herself on the run from Josh's control but takes his iPad, meaning she can program her settings and give her hunters more of a challenge.

While it's another cautionary tale about how AI will eventually get the best of us somehow, and I've mentioned before how the idea feels very tired, I can't deny that this film did it well. I liked that Iris' supposed "glitch" wasn't part of her AI and that Iris is more like the hero here than the overplayed robot who loses control of itself and destroys all humans. I enjoyed this one. It's short, sweet, and to the point, and it turns the tables a bit on the idea of a cautionary AI story, making it go from "What if AI kills us?" to "What if AI can defend itself against us?"

4/5

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