Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 4/1/2025
Rating: R
Film Grade: B
The Story: Meeting the person you are destined to love forever is truly a special moment to cherish. For Iris and Josh, it was a chance encounter at their supermarket’s fresh fruit section. A perfectly ordinary beginning to a fateful relationship.
The young lovers flee the city for a weekend getaway with two other couples, Eli and Patrick, and Cat and Sergey. Sergey’s mysterious and dirty business background has allowed him to purchase an isolated country retreat surrounding a small lake. The festivities begin with an elaborate dinner party with fancy food and copious drinks, but everything will change the next morning.
My Take: Companion is a solid thriller set in the near future. Unfortunately, the marketing campaign behind the movie gives away one of the many key elements to the film. I’ll keep the top part of the review as general as possible to avoid spoiler territory, clearly marking that section to avoid for anyone that wants to go into the film as fresh as possible.
Iris’ narration sets up the premise at the beginning of the movie, revealing the two happiest moments of her existence. I’m not sure if I agree with that choice, since it also telegraphs a major plot point, leaving one to only wonder how it will happen rather than what will happen. The film does concentrate on the how, though, and it’s evident that the decision is intentional.
I really enjoyed the dinner party setting of the film, as it uses a typical situation to both advance the story and give the audience something that’s easily relatable. Who can’t sympathize with Iris’ nervousness over meeting Josh’s friends for the first time, worrying about whether she’ll be accepted into the group? It’s peppered with those artificial moments of manufactured small talk, blended with awkward questions and answers, that provide an uncomfortable edge to what should be a relaxing and rewarding evening. The movie builds off of those feelings and adds character-focused conversations that help us piece together the group dynamics in a compelling way.
While doing this, it interjects some of the major themes early into the movie, of which there are many. What is companionship, and how much of your identity and self are you willing to give up maintaining it? The concepts of love, power, control, and manipulation are all explored and touched upon. Not that the movie dwells on any of these, it’s a thriller at its core, but it weaves them into the story in a way that adds depth to anyone willing to look past the surface level. This is a good approach, giving the audience a chance to spend as much, or as little, time contemplating them as they wish.
This is the first feature movie for writer/director Drew Hancock, who cut his teeth on the TV side of things, but this is no amateur production. The acting is solid, with Sophie Thatcher showing a broad range of emotions as the initially simple and naive Iris. Likewise, her costar Jack Quaid (son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid) gives Josh a happy-go-lucky, slightly goofy, attitude that he plays around with during different times of the movie, evolving as needed. The supporting actors also turn in good performances. Some almost stray into camp but are reigned in as events dictate. What works really well here is how all three of the couples share a variation of each other’s traits while still being distinct. Dialog is snappy, crisp, and often wittily sarcastic in tone and delivery, enhancing the movie's black humor.
I’ll add a little criticism to middle act of the movie, where it could have been tightened up. There’s an extended segment of dialog between two characters that is important to the core of the movie but slows down the pace and goes on too long. It’s shortly followed by an action segment that feels too conventional for this film and could have been handled in a better storytelling way. It’s not enough to detract from the movie but just comes across as clunky in an otherwise tightly constructed thriller.
OK, here’s where we get into spoiler territory. While it’s nothing that hasn’t been revealed in the trailer or most of the marketing, proceed at your own risk.
SPOILERS
Not mentioned in the above is the aspect of AI that is central to the movie, but revealed in the trailer and even displayed on the cover art. It’s not introduced initially, allowing that element to come as a surprise to the audience. Subtle clues are dropped leading up to the reveal, which allows some of the puzzle pieces to quickly drop into place.
The movie’s take on the subject matter is fresh and clever, and it also adds to the numerous thematic elements of the movie. Exploration of loneliness (especially for young men) are key to the story. While the creation of artificial companions is still a way off, one can already see similarities with the advent of AI girlfriend apps that have hit the market in the last couple of years. It’s a cautionary tale, warning us that advancing technology is no substitute for human connection, even if it has all the superficial appearances of it.
The other aspect it touches on is how society might look at these creations once they become commonplace. The sequence introducing Iris to Josh’s friends is a good fodder for such contemplation. Will they be viewed as slaves or disposable toys?
This is heady fare for a thriller, but I’m glad that they went in that direction for anyone that wants to ponder our collective future.
END OF SPOILERSVisuals: Shot digitally, this is a beautiful movie. Natural colors are highlighted with bright sunlight, Sergey’s luxurious cabin is rich with bold colors and warm woodwork. Here, too, sunlight is used to convey the time of day in various scenes. Evening blacks are deep, adding contrast to the other on-screen elements. In comparison, Josh’s apartment before meeting Iris is bland and desaturated. Skin tones are clear and life-like. It’s just an overall lovely looking movie.
Audio: There isn’t an overwhelming use of the Atmos platform in the movie. It passes my bird test, with a couple of bonus points for also using the wide channels in addition to the tops for some of their sounds. Tops are mostly used for the musical score, but there are a few spots where they’re used for atmospheric effects like rain and thunder. The rain sounded so good and subtle, that I actually paused the movie when reviewing the sound to see if our actual rainstorm had resumed. (It hadn’t.)
As with other recent titles like this, the musical score is a blend of pop music (spanning decades and moods) with the conventional tension-building orchestral accompaniment. The songs worked well in setting the tone for different scenes, and the deep notes of the musical score helped build tension as needed. Composer Hrishikesh Hirway has given Iris a hauntingly lyrical theme song, one that she herself hums early in the film. It’s slightly evocative of the theme from Rosemary’s Baby in tone and pace. Dialog is consistently clear and understandable.
Special Features: I’d normally list all of them here, but again, we tread into spoiler territory. There are three featurettes, that talk with the cast and crew about different aspects of the movie. They’re not overly long or deep but do add some backstory to the way the characters were conceived and how movie was created. I would have liked to have listened to the director’s commentary track, but that may have to wait for a future release.
Final Verdict: We’ve seen a good crop of thrillers lately. Like Influencer and Speak No Evil, Companion weaves some interesting social themes into the plot, adding depth to the movie, yet it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Yes, it does have some violent moments, but they’re crucial to the story, not just added for shock value. It’s another good example of how a modest budget (rumored to be around $10M) can be used to create a solidly entertaining and thoughtful movie.
I do wish that the marketing team hadn’t been so forthright about the central story element while promoting it. My wife went into the movie completely unaware of it, and the reveal made a real impression on her that didn’t carry the same weight with me, although I thought it was handled incredibly well within the film itself. But fear not, if you have seen any of the advertising for it or read a synopsis, it’s not the only surprise of the film, others await you.
She enjoyed it as much as I did and would give it the same grade. We’re grateful for having had the chance to watch it and add it to our collection. Recommended for all fans of the genre.
Oh, and stick around for the end credits; it includes a short epilog.
Romantic Quote: “And you're - - you're staring at this stranger, this person you've never met before, and you know. . . that for the rest of your life, you will do whatever it takes to make this person happy.”
Warning: The full trailer includes a large number of spoilers. I’m only posting the teaser, which includes a smaller number of them, along with some violent content. I don’t recommend watching it if you want to get the maximum effect from the movie.
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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