Courtesy of Warner Bros./New Line Cinema
I do know the widespread recommendation is at all times: “Go into this film realizing as little as doable.” However in immediately’s age of social media, the place studios are scrambling to seize our consideration away from streaming platforms and the fixed lure of our smartphones, they’ve needed to get inventive in making moviegoing really feel like an occasion. Sadly, this usually implies that trailers and commercials reveal greater than filmmakers may need. Regardless of all that—and although 2025 has simply begun—it looks as if a foregone conclusion that Drew Hancock’s twisty, clever, and fully authentic psychological thriller concerning the rise of synthetic intelligence, “Companion,” will likely be one of many yr’s greatest movies.
“Companion” attracts favorable comparisons to the equally themed “Ex Machina,” however whereas each discover AI, their mechanics and tones are distinct. In any case, we’re in a a lot totally different place with AI now than we have been in 2015 and “Companion” provides a superb recontextualization of how we misuse this expertise, intertwining these themes with deeper explorations of free will, feelings, ache, and intelligence. It’s a taut, well-crafted piece of mainstream leisure—maybe with much less on its thoughts than you’d initially suppose—however nonetheless an exhilarating experience full of intelligent twists, sensible characters, and stable performances. Oh, and it’s additionally very humorous.
The film kicks off with Iris (Sophie Thatcher, excellent) assembly the love of her life, Josh (Jack Quaid), in a serendipitous, love-at-first-sight second in a grocery retailer—an encounter that, within the age of courting apps, seems like a relic of a bygone period. Quick-forward, and the couple is en path to the distant mansion of a rich Russian tycoon named Sergey (Rupert Good friend). Iris is nervous about making an excellent first impression on Josh’s mates.
Amongst them are Kat (Megan Suri), Sergey’s girlfriend (although he’s truly married), Eli (Harvey Guillén), and Eli’s enticing however dim-witted boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage). The preliminary environment is awkward, as everybody feels one another out, nevertheless it’s not, on the floor, the worst weekend spent with mates. That’s, till all hell breaks unfastened. The following morning, Iris walks by means of the door coated in blood, holding a knife. At this level—and be happy to cease studying right here if you wish to keep away from spoilers (although the trailers have already given this away)—it’s revealed that Iris is definitely a robotic (or, as some within the movie put it, a “sexbot”). The ramifications of this reveal, coupled with an internet of secrets and techniques and mysteries, make “Companion” an exciting, unpredictable experience.
Hancock has crafted an ingenious premise that, very like producer Zach Cregger’s wild “Barbarian,” constantly subverts expectations. As a first-time filmmaker, Hancock exhibits a masterful command over his universe. He fills within the small particulars—belongings you wouldn’t even suppose to ask about—and his characters behave in methods which are each strategic and plausible.
With out giving an excessive amount of away, the second half of the film turns into a battle of wits between Iris and Josh. Iris should adapt and evolve her programming to achieve the higher hand. At one level, she even discovers a distant management that enables her intelligence to be set to “40%,” and the whole lot from her eye colour to the pitch of her voice is automated by means of an app on an iPad. This evolution of Iris makes her arc all of the extra satisfying, and Thatcher’s efficiency is compelling from begin to end. With out her, “Companion” wouldn’t almost be as memorable. It’s additionally profoundly ironic that essentially the most emotionally resonant character within the film is a robotic.
Because the story unfolds, it provides eager commentary on the possession some males really feel over girls and their potential to make selections based mostly on their very own wishes. This thematic depth is juxtaposed with gory, outrageous enjoyable, as Quaid, Gage, and Guillén all profit from their eccentric roles in a state of affairs that shortly spirals uncontrolled.
“Companion” is an surprising gem that has already set the bar for the remainder of 2025. It’s a movie that walks a tightrope between being an exciting style piece and a thought-provoking commentary, with a lived-in high quality that’s uncommon in mainstream cinema. Hancock clearly thought by means of the shifting views, the framing of the story, and the way the characters’ actions really feel grounded and actual—nothing right here feels dumbed down.
Motion pictures seldom get significantly better (or extra entertaining) than this.
COMPANION opens in theaters Friday, January thirty first