Movies
Companion Review
Today we find ourselves surrounded by AI on social media, our devices, and sometimes in our workplace or school.
by Cam Schuster I 10th February 2025
Take chatGPT for instance. AI tools make our lives easier whether we asked for it or not. The Netflix TV Series Black Mirror shows us the potential horrors tech can have on humans in the future. AI robots are coming if not already here. Folletto Cafe is a small shop in Auckland City serving coffee with an automated robot arm. Customers are served Mochas and Flatwhites with no human on site. This is the beginning and we’re not far from Ex-Machina taking over job after job. Black Mirror offers cautionary tales on how tech can change our lifestyle, from virtual reality to mind chips to sex robots. What we can imagine could be achieved. Sky(net)s the limit. It’s only a matter of time.
Keeping with this theme Companion is the new sci-fi-horror-comedy by first-time director Drew Handcock. It’s also a film that could easily be an episode of Black Mirror. The story is about a young couple Iris played by Heretic and Boogeyman Scream Queen Sophie Thatcher and Josh played by The Boys actor Jack Quaid. They are invited to a mansion in a forest by Josh’s college mates who plan a weekend reunion. After one of the mates gets killed things start getting out of hand and all is not what it seems.
The AI element gives this film a great plot twist at the beginning and, unfortunately, you bear witness to it in the film's trailer let alone from this review. So tell someone to go into this film blind and not see the trailer and read any reviews, it will be a different experience. Nevertheless, no suspense will be lost as more surprises are in store.
Companion feels like a sci-fi disguised as a haunted house film mixed with a rom-com and poured over a slasher movie. The setting is the mansion and the surrounding forest where the action happens and with a run time of 97 minutes, Handcock gives you efficient storytelling with moments of tension and plot twists that will keep you engaged. This is a fun movie, a genre cocktail that turns the romantic comedy on its head. An original story that questions the morality of human interactions with A.I. with the potential destruction of human-to-human relationships, Companion explores a social trajectory that will have the interest of tech geeks or A.I. enthusiasts who are also into horror.
I liked this movie enough to get past the bad movie line. I had fun watching, it didn't blow my mind as I expected judging from the trailer but I thought it was a good movie, not a bad one and I came away hyped for season 7 of Black Mirror (due to be released later in 2025). Thatcher's performance was great, I think the race for the Scream queen crown is neck and neck with ‘X’ and ‘Maxxine’ actress Mia Goth. The movie has solid production value’ the editing took you through the action enough to not make you bored, a nice start to Handcock's career. 3 out of 5 phone chargers.