HomeEntertainment‘Companion’ explores what humanity means in an AI-powered world

‘Companion’ explores what humanity means in an AI-powered world

“Iris, wake up!”

Early in “Companion,” pretty Iris and her nerdy-nice boyfriend Josh are driving to a secluded lake home for a stick with buddies. Iris wakes from a nap and lovingly tells Josh she was dreaming about him. They reminisce about how they first met on the grocery store. All these oranges tumbling onto the ground! Ha ha.

In 20 minutes, completely all the pieces about this candy scene will likely be turned on its head in a terrifying and sinister method. You will likely be shocked and shocked. Unless you noticed the trailer, which reveals the entire thing.

And so we start with a dilemma, pricey moviegoer. “Companion,” an exceedingly intelligent and entertaining sci-fi-horror-thriller-comedy by Drew Hancock in his function debut, has extra twists and turns than a corkscrew. But it’s completely unattainable to jot down concerning the movie with out revealing the primary of these twists.

So should you like coming in completely chilly to a film, then we’re sorry to see you go, however cease studying! Otherwise, stick with us — we promise there will be extra surprises to return.

Moving on: Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) arrive on the property. A nervous Iris stops on the door, anxious that Josh’s buddies gained’t like her. He urges her to easily brighten up and act joyful.

Kat (Megan Suri), Josh’s ex, greets them. She is attractive, and frosty to Iris. Eli (Harvey Guillén) and his good-looking boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage) are nicer. Then there’s Sergey (Rupert Friend), Kat’s aloof Russian boyfriend — sugar daddy, actually — and proprietor of the home. The password to his units is Stalin’s birthday, which tells you one thing.

Things get darkish, shortly. The subsequent morning, somebody dies. They won’t be the primary — this can be a horror film. And immediately Iris, caked in blood, finds out what everybody else is aware of about her, however she didn’t: She’s a robotic. Well, a intercourse bot. A customized “companion” programmed by Josh to be as docile as he needs. He may even management the extent of her intelligence.

Iris would not perceive. “I feel things,” she protests. Just the programming, Josh replies. Her tears? They come from a refillable reservoir in her physique. But she has recollections, she says — like once they met! Oh, that state of affairs was chosen from a drop-down menu, she’s instructed.

But now that we’re all on the identical web page, the motion can actually start. For causes we can’t element right here, Iris finally ends up on the run. What are the chances of a intercourse bot escaping her pre-programmed limitations? Suffice it to say that no matter you anticipate to occur, doesn’t.

The supporting solid is great — particularly Gage, as a Patrick chock stuffed with surprises — however the leads are particularly effectively solid. Thatcher manages to be, whereas, like, not truly human, far more relatable than the precise people. And she’s capable of convey refined modifications in programming, too — like turning into 60% extra clever, a neat trick.

And Quaid, together with his full-cheeked Quaid-ian attractiveness, is a perfect selection for a “nice guy” who grows extra odious by the minute. One of his decrease factors comes when he explains to Iris how the world appears to be “rigged against people like me.”

“I don’t even own you,” he rails — “you’re a (expletive) rental! I deserve so much more than this.”

Hancock is clearly exploring the fertile space of synthetic intelligence — the film is ready in a “not-too-distant future” the place bots are a suitable relationship selection and automobiles drive themselves, however most all the pieces else seems to be the identical. Like it might be us, just some years from now. Yikes.

The irony, although, is that it isn’t the cool futuristic prospers however good old school human intelligence that makes the film work. The humor and tone might have go so mistaken, however they didn’t. Kudos to Hancock for making the movie crackle alongside wittily, drawing in even these of us vulnerable to shudder at films with a fast-rising physique depend.

“Companion,” a New Line Cinema launch, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association “for robust violence, sexual content material, and language all through. “ Running time: 97 minutes. Two and a half stars out of 4.

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