A One Mann’s Movies review of “Companion” (2025).
On the (very good) podcast “The Rest is Entertainment” with Richard Osman and Marina Hyde, they answered a question about ‘trailers’ commenting that the reason some of them are so bad and ‘spoilery’ is that they are separately produced by a marketing agency. They commented that the film’s directors normally have little say on what they contain. Well, if that’s true, I say SHAME on the agency that did the trailer for “Companion”.
I will admit that it IS very engaging and appealing and made me want to watch the film (given that this Blink Twice” sort of violent thriller is my thing). But it is also INCREDIBLY spoilery. I just wish I had seen this film at a film festival where I had no prior knowledge of it beforehand.
Even with the spoilers, this was a film I enjoyed very much. But it might have been at least another half star more if the marketing hadn’t blazenly given away one of the key twists.
On the mad assumption that you have NOT seen the trailer (and indeed, have not seen the strapline on the poster!), I will be keeping this review SPOILER FREE. There will be some spoilery comments in the Spoiler Section, clearly marked, below the trailer.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Companion” Plot Summary:
Josh (Jack Quaid) is taking his new girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) for a weekend away with old friends Eli (Harvey Guillén), with his boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage), and Cat (Megan Suri) with her rich but shady Russian boyfriend Sergey (“Homeland”‘s Rupert Friend). Sergey’s home is magnificently remote. Iris is nervous about the weekend as she’s never met his friends before. The weekend is set to be eventful!
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong bloody violence, injury detail, sexual threat, language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Jack Quaid, Sophie Thatcher, Harvey Guillén, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Rupert Friend, Marc Menchaca, Jaboukie Young-White, Matt McCarthy.
Directed by: Drew Hancock.
Written by: Drew Hancock.
Running Time: 1h 37m.
“Companion” Summary:
Positives:
- A joyfully violent romp that had lots of gore and lots of funny moments.
- A nice twist (other than the key one spoiled by the marketing)
- An excellent performance by Sophie Thatcher.
Negatives:
- The terrible marketing!
- A few of the details of the plot really don’t fully align.
Review of “Companion”:
A really entertaining thrill ride of a movie.
This is the feature debut of Drew Hancock and it’s a strong contender for a top 10 of fun times had in the cinema during the year. There are nods to a lot of different films (see the spoiler section) but it has novel moments of its own.
Mixed in with all of the gory action are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments of comedy which I was not expecting from the script. An encounter between Iris and a highway cop (Marc Menchaca) is ‘lache laut lustig’!
Sophie Turner delivers a quirky performance.
Sophie Turner is having a good year. She had one of the starring roles, as Sister Barnes, in the recent and well-regarded “Heretic” with High Grant. And here, she turns in a really quirky and well-judged performance as the nervous girl with an inferiority complex who’s not very bright (I would estimate about 40%, if we’re grading on a scale). However, on the plus side, she’s good in bed and loves her man very much. Jack Quaid (son of Dennis and Meg Ryan) plays a complete arsehole, such that you REALLY wonder what the lovely Iris ever saw in him.
A few misaligned plot elements.
The film has a few plot elements that didn’t quite gel, but comment on those is saved for the spoiler section!
Monkeys?
There is a sort of “monkey” during the early part of the film’s credits as a character is driving away in her car. Once the main credit roll starts though, there is nothing after that.
Summary Thoughts on “Companion”
A really fun time at the movies, “Companion” ticks all the boxes for comedy and thriller (with a tad of horror) mixed together. I just wish I’d been able to watch it ‘cold’.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Companion”:
The original trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr_kX0D3DNA if you really want to see it, but it is a car-crash of spoilers.
So, I have cut together my own One Mann’s Movies special version of the trailer together that doesn’t spoil a key twist that they should have left hidden. That is here: https://youtu.be/YKCNDF9WiMU, or embedded below.
Spoiler Section:
Don’t read past this point if you’ve not seen the movie.
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NO, SERIOUSLY!
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Film influences
There are lots of clever nods in here to other robotic-led films, very particularly “Blade Runner” (Iris is the Rachael character who doesn’t know she is a robot) and “Ex Machina“, where Ava is exploring her own capabilities and, ultimately, gets to roam free in the world. There’s also more than a nod to the “Terminator” films in the unhinged and unstoppable Patrick (Lukas Gage) when turned up to 11!
Plot holes
The few aspects that didn’t quite gel with me were:
- When Iris, in a distraught state, is sent to sleep and then rewoken, she comes back blabbering the rest of the sentence she was mid-way through and remembering everything to that point. When the same is done to Patrick, that doesn’t happen – he seems to be oblivious to what’s gone before. (I appreciate that it is implied by the technician Sid (Matt McCarthy) that Patrick is an older model so this could be a reason for the discrepancy.
- Patrick’s maximum intelligence and maximum aggression is something Josh did to get what he wanted. But surely he would have ‘turned him down again’ afterwards for safety reasons (though Josh is an utter git, to be fair.)
- Iris at the dinner table had her intelligence turned down to zero (a beautifully nuanced bit of acting from Thatcher!) such that she was nothing more than a “fuck-bot”. But – unless I missed it? – when was she ever turned up again, such that she would have the smarts to perform the final attack?
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