By Max Rekela Jasper on March 21st, 2025
Drew Hancock’s 2025 science fiction horror film Companion would be best enjoyed by viewers who know nothing of the plot before seeing it. I say this because the strongest aspect of Companion lies within its storytelling, thanks to how the story is structured and paced. If you know any bit of what the story is about, I feel you may not appreciate the film fully for what it is. The film begins and ends with Iris (Sophie Thatcher), informing the audience about how she met and later killed her boyfriend, Josh (Jack Quaid). At first, that irritated me because Iris’ narration essentially spoiled the entire film for the audience. However, after some thinking on my drive home from the theater, I realized that this was the correct move because it made the audience wary of Josh from the get-go. Josh is flawlessly played by Jack Quaid, who is quickly cementing himself as a Hollywood A-lister. Quaid is so charismatic as Josh Beaman, that you can’t help but root for him until it is revealed that he manipulated Iris to murder Sergei (Rupert Friend).
In addition to Quaid’s fantastic performance, Sophie Thatcher’s performance as the robotic companion Iris is revolutionary. Thatcher perfectly balances Iris’ humanity and artificiality; so much so that she becomes easy to root for, despite her weirdness and attachment to Josh.
In addition, the chemistry between Thatcher and Quaid is terrific. The way their dynamic evolves from lovers to enemies is incredibly compelling. At the beginning of the film, Josh is essentially a picture-perfect boyfriend to Iris. He seems like he truly cares for her, and what she thinks about things. However, by the end of the party, after Josh is done “using” her, he tells her to “go to sleep”, which I initially thought was a moment of comedy but instead was a subtle foreshadowing of the fact that Iris was a robot, and could be simply shut down by a vocal command. Anyways, when Iris realizes that Josh had her intentionally murder Sergei, she feels betrayed, unwilling to let the love she has programmed for Josh overcome her. Josh’s betrayal is ultimately where her humanity comes in. She realizes what she is, and uses it to her advantage. By far my favorite moment in the film came when Iris encountered Deputy Hendrix (Marc Menchaca). Realizing that she was programmed not to lie, she switches her language to German, speaking to the oblivious deputy in German, still telling the truth, but a truth that the deputy cannot understand. This moment was both incredibly clever and very funny, as it displayed what Iris could do with 100% intelligence.
If I had to critique Companion, I’d say its biggest flaw lies in its ending. To me, the ending felt rushed and almost too goofy to be true. Having Iris return to Josh, eliminating her programming, and having Josh throw her around like a rag doll was a nice touch, however, Iris grabs the wine corker seemingly out of nowhere and jams it into Josh’s head. This death is incredibly gruesome and well-earned, however, I wish this final fight had involved Teddy (Jaboukie Young-White) in some capacity and had been a bit longer than what we got. Seeing as Teddy was the only human who survived being at Sergei’s house, it would have been interesting to see Josh hold Teddy at gunpoint, which would have heightened the stakes of Teddy’s character. Sure, Teddy had a minuscule role in the story, but seeing Josh go as far as to try to kill someone himself (without the help of a companion) would have made him all the crazier.
All that being said, Drew Hancock’s Companion is a great film. It balances drama and comedy and has a story that is easy for anybody to follow, even if the ending is a bit underwhelming. I would rate Companion four out of five stars. I recommend it to fans of romance, horror, science fiction, drama, and comedy. I would not recommend purchasing a large bucket of popcorn and eating most of it during the previews, though!
