3 out of 5
As the film tag line says, this is a a new kind of love story.
If you really, really want to experience “Companion” with its not-very-well-hidden twists intact don’t watch the trailer or talk to anyone about it. Avoid the poster as well, which is why I've chosen the non-spoiler poster at the top of this review. Why? Well there are lots of spoilers in the trailer and this also makes writing this review quite difficult. But here we go anyway, avoiding all spoilers.
Iris (played by Sophie Thatcher, fresh from here stint in Heretic) and her nerdy-nice boyfriend Josh (played by Jack Quaid) are driving to a secluded lake house for a stay with friends. Iris wakes from a nap and lovingly tells Josh she was dreaming about him. They reminisce about how they first met at the supermarket. All those oranges tumbling onto the floor! Ha ha.
In twenty minutes, absolutely everything about this sweet scene will be turned on its head in a terrifying and sinister manner. You will be surprised and shocked. Unless you saw the trailer, which reveals the whole thing.
Writer and director, Drew Hancock is obviously exploring the fertile area of artificial intelligence — the movie is set in a “not-too-distant future” where cars drive themselves, but most everything else looks the same. Like it could be us, just a few years from now. Yikes.
The irony, though, is that it’s not the cool futuristic flourishes but good old-fashioned human intelligence that makes the movie work. The humour and tone could have gone so wrong, but they didn’t. Kudos to Drew Hancock for making the film crackle along wittily, drawing in even those of us prone to shudder at movies with a fast-rising body count.
It's and entertaining film with some intriguing premises so I'll shut up now. Go and see it and avoid all spoilers if you can.
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