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Movie review: 'Companion' tells fresh, devilishly macabre AI tale

Sophie Thatcher is the "Companion," in theaters Jan. 31. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
1 of 4 | Sophie Thatcher is the "Companion," in theaters Jan. 31. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Companion, in theaters Jan. 31, is a clever new take on artificial intelligence and robot stories. It reflects not only modern technology, but also recent debates about AI and gender politics.

Sophie Thatcher plays Iris, an android built for subservience and human companionship. In the film's trailer, she lists the two happiest moments of her life -- the day she met Jack Quaid's Josh and the day she killed him -- allowing the ensuing film to justify her actions.

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That the film begins as a rom-com is a misdirect, because Companion is a thriller with unpredictable twists and turns.

As the movie unfolds, Iris (Thatcher) joins Josh (Quaid) at a remote mansion with his friends, Kat (Megan Suri), Sergey (Rupert Friend), Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage), and ends up killing one of them in self-defense.

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In the aftermath, Josh has to break the news to Iris that she is his robot companion, and the group has to figure out what to do about the body.

Companion keeps revealing twists until its climax, which will not be spoiled in this review, but they're all fun and well-established. Iris finding out she is a robot leads her to make interesting decisions to escape her predicament.

At her core, Iris is an innocent robot among a bunch of obnoxious humans, who now want to kill her for defending herself. It easily makes her the most sympathetic character, and causes the audience to root for her escape.

If Iris' technology is advanced enough to make her a viable companion to humans, it follows that she too has a self-preservation instinct. Thatcher, the human actor, runs barefoot outside for most of the movie, so her commitment is admirable.

Writer/director Drew Hancock raises questions about the ethics in creating sentient intelligence that can be manipulated to serve a customer's whims. There are rules, efficiently explained in a flashback, to safeguard both users and the product, but still plenty of gray areas.

Iris is programmed to love Josh, even after she's killed someone and faces being shut down. Thatcher's performance is sincere in still trying to make their relationship work, as Iris reverts back to catering to him.

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So far, real-life adult sexual companion products are still inanimate dolls. Were technology able to create robots so advanced they could think and speak like humans, it would become very hard to sympathize with customers like Josh.

Assuming the technology to create artificial life exists, programming it to have sex is not the most admirable of applications. Perhaps in the broader world of the film, the company also employs doctor or aid worker robots, but it's clear the sex robot is the moneymaking endeavor.

On the surface, the plot of Companion is about trying to get a robot under control, but it is metaphorically about the forces of misogyny trying to control human women. Josh feels entitled to love and rewards, and blames Iris for not doing what he programmed her to do.

When it becomes clear there's no going back for Josh and Iris, the film has some fun with relationship cliches. With a robot involved, lines like "it's not you, it's me" become macabre.

The script is also a clever concept to justify a limited cast in a remote location. The film looks good, with Eli Born's cinematography highlighting the bright, sunny nature surrounding the estate.

Movie fans seem willing to accept the humanization of robots, such as in The Terminator, Blade Runner and Ex Machina. Companion is being released at a time when misogyny is at its most public, and it delivers a warning to perpetrators via an exciting robot thriller.

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Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.

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