Companion (M18)
97 minutes, now showing ★★★★☆
The story: Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) arrive at a luxurious lakeside lodge for a weekend with his quartet of 30-something pals, including his ex (Megan Suri), the Russian billionaire host (Rupert Friend) and a gay couple (Harvey Guillen and Lukas Gage). Not everyone will leave alive.
Iris is docile and devoted – because she is Josh’s sexbot companion, a piece of hardware ordered online and customised to satisfy him.
Companion is a Hollywood original best enjoyed cold, but the big reveal is in the trailers and may come as a shock only to Iris, who thinks she is human despite her cat-eye make-up never smearing even in the shower.
There are many more twisty surprises in this fiendish near-future thriller, where a murder 20 minutes in leads to a chase through the woods with US$12 million (S$16 million) at stake.
American writer-director Drew Hancock’s feature debut is too sneaky to join the trending ethical discourse on virtual companionships, and is quite a subversion of techno-phobic cautionary tales.
It is a darkly hilarious, outrageously entertaining satire on the abusive relationships of entitled misogynists like Josh, who uses and manipulates his women. He shuts Iris down with a voice command, and her 40 per cent intelligence setting is especially demeaning.
No dummy, she evolves from self-discovery to a bloody fight for self-determination after gaining control of his mobile app.
The android is the most empathetic character in a punchy ensemble, and American actress Thatcher from the thriller series Yellowjackets (2021 to present) and Hugh Grant horror film Heretic (2024) is thrilling in the voltaic rage of Iris’ #MeToo revenge.
Hot take: There is nothing artificial about the intelligence of this incisively fun techno-parable.
You’re Cordially Invited
111 minutes, available on Prime Video ★★★☆☆