This is a great twist, and to be fair, “Companion” has plenty of more twists up its sleeve as the film continues, and these twists have not been spoiled by the trailer. And yet, the question remains: why did the folks involved with “Companion” feel the need to reveal that Iris was a robot before the film even came out? “Companion” is produced by Zach Cregger, the filmmaker behind the previously-mentioned “Barbarian.” That was another film with plenty of twists, and the trailers managed to avoid giving almost all of them away. For instance: the inciting incident of that film finds a woman named Tess (Georgina Campbell) showing up at an AirBNB to discover it’s already occupied by someone else, a guy named Keith, played by Count Orlok himself, Bill Skarsgård. Immediately, tension arises: should Tess enter the house with this strange man? What if he’s a danger to her? Spoiler alert: Tess does enter the house, and eventually we learn that Keith is utterly harmless. Unfortunately, there’s an monstrous killer lurking in the basement of the house, and she ends up smashing Keith’s skull in and taking Tess prisoner. But none of this is in the trailer for “Barbarian,” and that shock helped make that movie even better. The “Companion” trailer revealing Iris is a love-bot is tantamount to a teaser for “Barbarian” revealing that Keith is innocent and gets his skull crushed in the first act of the film.
However, does knowing the “Companion” twist about Iris hurt the film? I guess that depends on the viewer. When my girlfriend learned that the trailer gives away Iris’ robotic nature after the fact, she stated that she felt she wouldn’t have enjoyed the film as much if she had this knowledge. But I had seen the trailer, and you know what? I ended up loving “Companion” anyway (you can read my review right here). Ultimately, I’m kind of split down the middle here. On one hand, I think I would’ve liked the movie even more if I hadn’t known the twist ahead of time. On the other hand, I think the film still works great even if you know the twist.
In fact, knowing the twist actually adds some fun to the early scenes of the film. In the opening scenes, writer-director Drew Hancock drops some fun little clues about Iris. After the meet-cute flashback, Iris is introduced in the passenger seat of Josh’s car, seemingly asleep. “Iris, wake up,” Josh says, which rouses Iris. Now, if you didn’t know the twist, you could read this scene in a matter-of-fact way: Iris was asleep, and hearing Josh’s voice woke her up. However, once you know that Iris is a robot in Josh’s command, you realize that he was literally bringing her online by giving her an order. Later, Iris and Josh are shown in bed together. Iris keeps asking Josh questions, to which Josh, sounding annoyed, says: “Iris, go to sleep.” Again: if you don’t know Iris is a bot, you interpret this scene as Josh being slightly rude to his girlfriend. However, knowing what Iris is makes the scene play differently: after Josh says “Iris, go to sleep,” Iris stops talking — because Josh has literally shut her down for the night. The next day, Josh asks Iris what the weather is, and she dutifully gives him the info like she’s reading a weather report. “That never gets old,” Josh says, laughing. We could read this scene as if we’re witnessing a playful in-joke between a couple. But if you know the twist, you realize that Josh is asking for the weather the way someone asks the same question of their Amazon Alexa device.
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