Companion - Movie Review

The Movie: Companion

The Director: Drew Hancock

The Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend

The Story: A weekend getaway with friends at a remote cabin turns into chaos after it's revealed that one of the guests is a robot companion.

The Rating: 7/10

The Review:

You know I'm always down for a good dark comedy, espcially if it involves sci-fi elements and a fair amount of bloodshed so, at first glance, this movie looked like it could be a really fun experience. The story is a little bit like Ex Machina or Her in the context of robotics and AI but with a really twisted sense of humor and a lot more violence. Her is also an interesting comparison because Sophie Thatcher, who had a breakout performance in Prospect, a sci-fi thriller that was filmed here in the state of Washington, reminded me a lot of the early part of Scarlett Johannsson's career, just like similar vibes which is definitely a good thing.

One of the things I really liked about this story is how original it is, even with a fairly familiar concept, and also how many unexpected twists and turns there were from beginning to end. I think the end result was fairly predictable although all the different ways the story twisted and turned to get there were just really cool and really fun. I also liked the fact that the characters are who they are from the get go, with one exception, so when all hell begins to break loose, you can pretty much expect certain behaviors to play out from each one of them.

Interestingly enough, this is also a story about love and betrayal in the modern world of romance, or I guess I should say in a slightly futuristic world of romance. The world protrayed here has life-like sex robots and self driving cars and the whole movie does a great job of giving off a very artificial and superficial vibe which is kind of where we've been heading culturally and I could see how what we see of humanity ends up there. One of the fun thingd about this movie is how, if you want, you can take a deep dive into the moral and cultural aspects on display, or you can just kick back and watch all the mayhem unfold. Either way, it's a really fun ride.