In this humorous and bloody film, “Companion,” mankind in an AI-powered world is examined.

In this humorous and bloody film, “Companion,” mankind in an AI-powered world is examined.

“Awaken, Iris!”

Lovely Iris and her nerdy-nice boyfriend Josh are on their way to a remote lake cottage to spend time with friends early in “Companion.” Iris tells Josh sweetly that she dreamed about him after waking up from her nap. They talk about how they met at the grocery store. Those oranges falling to the ground! Ha ha.

Everything about this lovely scenario will be completely upended in 20 minutes in a way that is both ominous and horrifying. You’ll be stunned and taken aback. Unless you watched the trailer, which gives everything away.

And thus, dear moviegoer, we start with a conundrum. In his feature debut, Drew Hancock’s sci-fi-horror-thriller-comedy “Companion,” which is incredibly inventive and amusing, with more twists and turns than a corkscrew. However, it would be impossible to write about the movie without giving away the first of those surprises.

We are sorry to see you depart, but please stop reading if you enjoy showing up to a movie completely unprepared! If not, stick around because we guarantee there will be more surprises.

Next up: Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) arrive at the estate. Fearing she won’t be liked by Josh’s pals, a tense Iris pauses at the entrance. He tells her to just appear joyful and brighten up.

Josh’s ex-girlfriend Kat (Megan Suri) welcomes them. She is beautiful and cold toward Iris. It’s better with Eli (Harvey Guillén) and his attractive boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage). The owner of the house and Kat’s distant Russian boyfriend, or sugar daddy, is Sergey (Rupert Friend). It should come as no surprise that Stalin’s birthdate is the password to his devices.

Things quickly turn gloomy. Someone dies the following morning. This is a horror film, so they won’t be the first. Iris, covered in blood, discovers abruptly that she is a robot—something that everyone else knows about her but she did not. A sex bot, that is. a specially designed “companion” that Josh has programmed to be as submissive as he desires. He even has the ability to manipulate her IQ.

Iris is unable to comprehend. She objects, saying, “I feel things.” Josh responds, “Just the programming.” Did she cry? They originate from her body’s replenishable reserve. However, she claims to have recollections, such as their first encounter! She is informed that the scenario was selected from a drop-down menu.

But now that everyone is in agreement, the real action can start. Iris ends up on the run for reasons we won’t go into here. How likely is it that a sex bot will get past her pre-programmed restrictions? Let’s just say that whatever you were hoping for doesn’t happen.

The headliners are particularly well-cast, but the supporting ensemble is great, especially Gage, who plays a Patrick crammed full of surprises. Even if Thatcher isn’t truly human, she manages to be far more relatable than real people. She can also demonstrate tiny programming modifications, such as becoming 60% smarter, which is a clever trick.

Furthermore, Quaid is the perfect fit for a “nice guy” who is becoming more repulsive by the second due to his full-cheeked Quaid-ian good looks. His explanation to Iris of how the world appears to be “rigged against people like me” is one of his weakest moments.

He yells, “I don’t even own you—you’re a (expletive) rental! I am so deserving of better than this.

Although the film is set in a “not-too-distant future” where automobiles drive themselves and bots are a permissible romantic option, Hancock is clearly experimenting with the promising field of artificial intelligence. Other than that, everything appears to be the same. As if, in a few years, it might be us. Oh no.

However, the irony is that the film succeeds because of traditional human intelligence rather than future glitz. Although the tone and comedy could have gone horribly wrong, they didn’t. Hats off to Hancock for making the film witty and engaging, even for those of us who tend to flinch at films with a rapidly increasing number of characters.

The Motion Picture Association has given New Line Cinema’s “Companion” a R rating due to “strong violence, sexual content, and language throughout.” It lasts for 97 minutes. I give it two and a half stars.