Despite it now being the second month of 2025 as of this review, I feel like I’m stuck in 2024 due to the movies that I have yet to see, at least the ones nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. In my previous review, I talked about The Brutalist, which did get nominated for Best Picture, and there a few films that I still need to watch before the ceremony. I’m bringing this up because while I was focused on the past, I was unaware of new films being released in 2025, and one of the first ones that I saw that was a 2025 film the new thriller Companion.

Even though it’s being released through New Line Cinema (a Warner Bros. company for those unaware), I didn’t know much about Companion until a few weeks ago. I first saw the trailer for it when I saw Nosferatu (2024) on New Years Day, and at the time I just thought Companion was another creepy A24 film. Since then, I had forgotten about it until I saw the Wolf Man (2025) and watched a new trailer for it that, in retrospect, I wish I didn’t given the fact that it gave a major plot point away. Unfortunately, I will have to spoil a major part of the film in the description. I say “unfortunately” because this is the type of film where it’s best to see it without knowing anything. So, with that said, was Companion worth watching? As usual, let’s find out.   

In this comedy thriller, Companion follows Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid), a couple on their way to a lake house to meet up with their friends Kat (Megan Suri), Eli (Harvey Guillen), and Patrick (Lukas Gage), along with a millionaire by the name of Sergey (Rupert Friend). This last one owns the lake house and is dating Kat. Iris feels self-conscious around the group because they are mostly Josh’s friends and she gets the feeling that Kat doesn’t like her that much. Nonetheless, the group has a fun time during the first night drinking and dancing. The next morning, Iris decides to go to the lake but Josh stays behind due to recovering from a hangover from the night before. Going alone, Iris heads to the lake and while she thought she was going to get some alone time, Sergey joins her. Not wanting to be alone with him, Iris decides to return to the house, but Sergey insists she stays. While he tries to pass himself off as innocent, he makes advances on her to the point where she pushes him away, which leads to him hitting his head on a rock. Frustrated by this action, he then pins Iris down and starts assaulting her. Out of desperation, Iris uses a switchblade that she found in her pocket and stabs Sergey in the neck, which kills him. Covered in blood, Iris tries to explain to the group what had happened but before she can justify herself, Josh tells her to go to sleep which renders her unconscious. She awakens tied to a chair, confused on what is happening. Josh then explains that Iris is an advanced companion robot that can be controlled by a smart phone. He then explains that Iris has been programed with certain memories such as the day they met, which explains why Iris was never aware of being a robot. Josh then tells Iris that he will have to completely reboot her and informs the police as to what happened. He then gets distracted, which leads Iris to make her escape. Before escaping, Iris steals Josh’s phone and increases her intelligence from 40% to 100 %, making her much smarter and more strategic when planning her get away. When she turns up missing, Josh reveals to the group that he had jailbroke Iris’s settings, allowing her to harm with lethal consequences. He had done this as a plan for Iris to kill Sergey so they can steal millions of dollars that Sergey had kept in his personal safe. Iris’s escape, however, is a miscalculation on their part, leading to the four friends attempting to hunt and kill Iris before she comes into contact with civilization, let alone another human being.

As I mentioned earlier, Companion is the type of film where the less you know, the better. Without burying the lead, it is a film that I unexpectedly enjoyed though I wish I didn’t see any trailers beforehand due to the “spoiler” near the end of the first act. Still, it was a surprise for many reasons I will now explain.

I’ll be frank: Companion is a simple film, so simple that I couldn’t think of anything groundbreaking about the premise. One comment that I read on social media is that it feels like a mix between Ex Machina (2014) and The Stepford Wives (2004), a film I haven’t seen but know the premise of, with a dash of Get Out (2017). This seems pretty dead on if you ask me. So, you’re probably asking yourself, “so why did you enjoy Companion?” As I said earlier, it’s simple. While there are plot elements that are told through exposition, it is not hard to follow, making it entertaining and lean, like a The Twilight Zone(1959-1964, 2019-2020) or Black Mirror (2011-present) episode. Another factor that helped make Companion enjoyable was the lead actress, Sophie Thatcher. An up-and-coming star, Thatcher has been someone that I’ve seen in a couple of films recently, but this feels like a major break breakout role for her. This is a major feat for an actress of her caliber in a major studio film.

Right in the middle of the first act, I knew that Companion was going to be yet another cautionary tale, but the question was, what kind? One factor that I noticed and pretty much everyone else who has seen it also did the same, was the subject of spousal abuse. I won’t go too much into it because it’ll give away a lot of the film, but another point that I discovered from a Catholic point of view was free will itself. I mentioned earlier in my synopsis that Josh is able to control Iris through his smart phone, changing her eye color or tone can be simply by tapping the screen. This brought to mind a question: what if God didn’t give us free will or what if we can control other human beings with a device such as a smart phone. Obviously, God loves us to the point where he has given us free will, which is something we (or at least myself) have taken for granted sometimes. Oftentimes I have to remind myself of that gift. Going back to the film, I began to wonder: is love really earned when we have control over someone’s affection through a device? Also, is it worth having a companion if they can’t choose to love by free will? Unfortunately, there are people in this world that would choose that companion option if that technology was available, though you won’t see me with one. I may still be single and lonely, but I’m not that desperate. 

Is Companion a perfect film? Without hesitation, I can say that it isn’t. Even while enjoying it, I did have questions that popped up, questions that did leave some holes in the story that I don’t think have answers. Regardless, despite some flaws in the story, it is an entertaining comedy thriller that gets from point A to point B within an hour and thirty something runtime. These days, some films get extra points for just being under two hours. I will say that it is pretty funny that the marketing team for the film is trying to sell this as horror. If you have seen that term applied to Companion and have some hesitation because you don’t like horror, then don’t worry, it’s anything but. If you do, however, get scared easily from content such as The Twilight Zone and/or Black Mirror, then you might get “scared.”