The film begins with a young woman called Iris. She meets this man, Josh Beeman, at a grocery store. The two develop strong feelings for each other.

Shortly after, the two go on vacation to a lake house in a remote area. They meet a lady named Kat, who is in charge. They also meet Eli, Patrick, and Sergey before they settle in.

The next day, Iris wants to relax by the lake. She gets there and hangs out—only for Sergey to show up unannounced. Even worse, he tries to assault her.

Later Iris returns with blood all over her and a knife in her hand. She confesses to Josh that she killed Sergey because she felt like she was in that much danger from him.

Josh secures Iris to a chair and reveals to her that she is actually a robot, which she denies. But Josh tests her skills, such as stating the weather, which she gives a precise answer to. Josh also says that their “meeting at the grocery store” was a false memory. He just needed something called a love link (like a made-up scene in his mind) to activate her.

The scene switches to the past, although it probably wasn’t long ago. Josh is getting a companion robot and receives Iris. After signing an agreement, Iris tells him the instructions on how to activate her, including using the love link.

Back to the present, Iris also discovers that some of her features can be controlled on Josh’s phone, such as her intelligence and emotions. While Josh isn’t looking, Iris breaks free, steals his phone, and gets into his car.

However, her voice is unable to start the engine since the system doesn’t recognize it. So, she uses the controls for either making her voice higher or lower to sound like Josh.

Right when Josh catches her trying to drive away, Iris uses Josh’s voice as best as possible to activate the system. It works!

But Josh is able to report that his vehicle was stolen. This prompts the car to stop. In addition, a police officer questions Iris.

Being smart and clever, but unable to lie, Iris decides to speak German to the cop to explain what happened. He almost gives her a ride home… until he sees a bloody knife in the car. Then he handcuffs her—and is shot by Patrick.

Patrick then drives Iris home in the police car. Kat turns on Josh and takes some of the cash that Sergey had previously smuggled.

Josh wants to convince others that Iris is just malfunctioning. But he may need to make some difficult decisions about what to do with her—even if it’s not ideal.

I was surprised with how this movie kept my attention all the way through, particularly as a thriller. It also has some science fiction elements, such as the robot idea. That was a strong concept.

It does get classified as a horror film in addition to a science fiction thriller. But it wasn’t scary at all for me.

That being said, it did have some bloody and gross moments that I covered up. So, it is not for the fainthearted.

But what makes it stand out from other thrillers is its lighthearted beginning. The first several minutes felt like a cross between a comedy and a drama.

It was also quite short for a thriller—around an hour and a half long. And the pacing was fast for the most part.

The characters were somewhat memorable. There were a little too many introduced at once. I sometimes had trouble knowing who was who.

But Iris and Josh were very three-dimensional—especially Iris. I admired her traits as a robot, such as how she states the weather and how she can’t lie because her programming won’t allow it. And I also loved how she had so many human features—enough that she denied being a machine.

She and Josh did have some romantic moments, including doing each other. Josh tried to love her and be patient with her, even if it wasn’t easy.  

And lots of twists and turns occur in this movie. See it to learn what they are.

Overall, I liked Companion. I was surprised with how lighthearted parts of it were and how it didn’t really get too dark.

Note that this film is rated R for bloody moments, swearing, sexual content, and smoking.

Anyway, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.