In the featurette “I Feel, Therefore I Am,” writer/director Drew Hancock (Fred 3: Camp Fred) talks about how sometimes, in relationships, there are those who are more invested than another. Personally, in the right circumstances, imbalance in one area can be made up in another, thereby still leading to a satisfying relationship for both parties as long as their respective needs are met; but, ultimately, the lack of balance can lead to resentment and dissatisfaction and, finally, dissolution. This is a core element in Hancock’s rom-com horror Companion, a love story with a twist for the modern era, first released in theaters in February and now available on home video with roughly 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes materials.
Sophie Thatcher as Iris in New Line Cinema’s COMPANION, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Couple Iris and Josh (Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, respectively) join a few of Josh’s friends at a secluded property to enjoy some quality time together. However, when tragedy strikes and truths come out, Iris learns that there are some obstacles even love can’t overcome.
Though this is a home release review, a great deal of the fun of Companion is in learning the secrets and surprises naturally. As such, this home review will strive to keep major elements of the narrative a secret while still exploring specific aspects of the film.
L-R: Director/Writer Drew Hancock and actor Sophie Thatcher on the set of New Line Cinema’s COMPANION, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Cara Howe. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Hancock’s script is a series of “show, not tell” moments wrapped in dialogue that works as both double entendre and straight talk. From the marketing, we know that Iris is an android and that Jack is her owner, but what the marketing doesn’t tell us is how much of a fucking cliché Jack is. Instead, it’s teased out through a variety of revelations as the script explores the different types of love on the human spectrum and the ways in which small, insecure men will do almost anything to make themselves feel better except go to therapy. The featurette “AI Horror” allows a few moments with costume designer Vanessa Porter (Brawl in Cell Block 99; The Toxic Avenger) in which they point out how, in other films, the actor would be involved in determining their character’s look and style, but, due to the nature of Thatcher’s character, Iris’s clothes would be based on Jack’s perspective. So, while one might be, at first, taken by Iris’s ‘60s retro look, it speaks more to Jack’s view of what a woman should look like and, more importantly, what a woman should act like. The 1960s were a significant piece of the sexual revolution across America, so Jack wanting Iris wearing clothes from that period creates a juxtaposition of the sexually liberated woman against the nurturing homemaker, or “lily” personality (one of gentleness, purity, and innocence). Going a step further, when we get a flashback of when Jack and Iris are connected, Jack’s listening to “Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls, a track off of their 1998 album Dizzy Up the Girl, but first released on the City of Angels (1998) soundtrack, a film telling the story of an angel who gives up their celestial state in order to be with a human they fall in love with. The song is, within a certain context, sweet and loving, but, within the scene as Hancock’s designed it, the song is being blared loudly and serves as the inspiration for Jack’s companion’s name. Jack is so wrapped up in heartbreak that he’s made it his entire personality and Iris is clearly a means for him to be in a relationship he can fully control. Through details overt and subtle, Hancock has created a horror show through and through.
L-R: Jack Quaid as Josh and Sophie Thatcher as Iris in New Line Cinema’s COMPANION, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. © 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Even more importantly, the film is entertaining as hell. The dialogue, as delivered by this small cast, can be taken at face value or understood for what it is (demeaning and knowing) before the film proper reveals that Iris isn’t human. (This is, of course, not the big reveal, don’t worry.) Instead, by making this revelation come early, a necessity in a 97-minute tale, the film then gets to really play … and play it does. It explores the notions of what humanity is, how so often the tools we use take on a personality of their own, and how AI tech isn’t inherently bad, it’s the use that creates the morality. Channeling more I, Robot (2004) than the Terminator series, Hancock gets the audience feeling far more sorrow and empathy for Iris than Jack, but that’s also due to the way that Hancock via Quaid (The Boys; Logan Lucky) taps into the incel mindset, the “I’m owed because I’m a white cis male” mentality that exemplifies what people mean when they say “toxic masculinity.” The ways in which the film rolls this around, pokes at it, prods it, stretches and contorts it, make the audience squirm in increasing levels of discomfort. A favorite moment comes when Iris has an interaction with a police officer while trying to get out of an uncomfortable situation and cleverly changes her own settings so she can’t speak English, thereby necessitating the officer to alter the way he engages the seemingly innocent figure struggling on the side of the road. Each time that you think the film has reached a wall it can’t climb, it manages to pull itself up and out into even more absurdity; however, most impressively, it never stops pushing its thematic aspects or forgets where the heart lies, so the absurd functions as a delivery mechanism for entertainment and as an exploration of toxic relationships and the strength required to break free.
L-R: Lukas Gage as Patrick, Harvey Guillén as Eli, and Jack Quaid as Josh in New Line Cinema’s COMPANION, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. © 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Regarding the bonus features, there are three featurettes totaling around 15 minutes, each one focusing on a different aspect of the film. The first, “I Feel, Therefore I Am,” takes a wider approach, exploring the film and its concepts using talking head interviews with Hancock, Thatcher, and Quaid amid footage of the film and behind-the-scenes materials. The second, “Love, Eli,” centers one of the other couples in the film, Eli and Patrick (Harvey Guillén and Lukas Gage, respectively), and how their arc correlates to core themes, as well as providing some cute insight into the dance Patrick does in the flashback we witness. The final featurette, “AI Horror,” delves more into the technical approach of the theme, centering elements like costuming and practical effects (leaned on as much as possible via contact lenses and prosthetics where possible). For folks who enjoy how the technical process of filmmaking uplifts the creative, “AI Horror” has some fun treats.
As Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided a 4K UHD edition for review, it’s important to note the specs on this one in the visual on-disc presentation. Keeping in mind that the max bitrate for a Blu-ray is 40 Mbps, Companion spends the bulk of the film in the low 60s, occasionally dropping into the 50s during nighttime sequences. What this means is that the on-disc presentation is greater than the best Blu-ray presentation, but it’s far from the best possible visual experience home viewers can receive. This doesn’t mean that the film looks poor or is ruined by muddled details or strange artifacting; rather, Eli Born’s (The Boogeyman; Hellraiser) cinematography creates a grounded sense for the entire film, thereby making the events of the film come off as grounded even amid the heightened science fiction elements. Colors are no more or less striking than they would be naturally, but this also means that in nighttime sequences where the absence of light creates a likewise absence of details, there can be a sense of uncertainty with what’s happening on screen. One can certainly follow what they need to, but that doesn’t mean it’s as clear or as defined as it could be.
At some point in nearly everyone’s life, there comes a moment where they realize that they love someone differently than they themselves are loved. Some find satisfaction in merely loving the other person, regardless of balance; some can’t find peace and leave. What is clear, what is definable, what is paramount, is that respect must be equal, even if love is not. That’s what makes Companion surprisingly devastating, even with the information about Iris’s true self — Quaid’s Jack is a dickbag whether or not Iris is human, and this is a certainty. (This reveal is, itself, not the devastating part, but a truth that gives way to the devastation regarding humanity and the damage done when toxic masculinity is coddled instead of addressed.) While not what one would immediately turn to on Valentine’s Day, there’s no doubt that Companion deserves a place in the conversation about female empowering films in terms of what women deserve and how men can and should be better. Love only goes so far, but respect clears the difference.
Companion Special Features:
- I Feel, Therefore I Am (5:43)
- Love, Eli (4:27)
- AI Horror (5:09)
Available on digital February 18th, 2025.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD April 1st, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Warner Bros. Pictures Companion website.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
Share this:
Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
Leave a Reply