This article contains major spoilers for “companion”.
Warner Bros. Perhaps delivered the first really great conversation film of 2025 with “Companion”. Directed by Drew Hancock and produced by the same patients who brought us “Barbarian”, the story of a woman realizing that she is in fact a robot built to serve is not only very entertaining, but leaves viewers to think. It also works as a fairly unexpected complementary piece (without puns) to make a 2013 science fiction jewel from Jonze “Her”. Although the last maintains at least a certain optimism concerning our technological predominance future, the first is not interested in such concepts of hope. It is incredible how much can change in a decade.
The Hancock film takes place during a weekend getaway with Josh (Jack Quaid) bringing his Robot Companion Iris (Sophie Thatcher) to better familiarize himself with his friends. Things become bloody when Iris are unlocked. When she is informed that she is a robot, her desire to live even more chaos. “Companion”, who / Chris Evangelista of the film entitled “The first great film of 2025”, offers a pessimistic vision of the future, in particular with regard to the relationship of humanity with technology.
Josh, a white man entitled, if ever, he was one, lies in Iris for granted. He uses it. He removes her worldly and mental worldly and mental frustration. He treats it as a thing, although it is more or less alive. In the rapidly evolving future that promised us by the generator, do robots that offer the company seem so far? More than that, can humans trust such technology?
The film clearly indicates that these robots only release the worst instincts of humanity. They are attached in the basements. They are used for target practice. It’s a bit of comment on the ugliness of humanity. He also suggests that technology will be used to replace the real human connection in the not too distant future. It seems inevitable. It is one of those science fiction films that feels so close to a reality that we see that it is difficult not to consider it significantly.
Companion and his address similar concepts with very different perspectives
By returning to “Her”, Jonze’s Oscar -winning film takes place in the near future and follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a gentle and calm man who is recently divorced and alone. It is intrigued by a new advanced computer operating system that looks like Apple Siri on steroids. He became familiar with his operating system “Samantha” (Scarlett Johansson), which is remarkably human despite the simple fact of being a voice in his computer. The two end up gathering an improbable romantic relationship, competing with several of the same joys and problems that two humans would have. Naturally, it naturally carries unique challenges with it.
Jonze’s film could not be more different from the “companion”. Unlike “Companion”, it is not a horror film. At the same time, the two films engage with the same concept of a future where the human company and in AI is, more or less, an accepted standard. Jonze’s point of view is that these relationships, like any relationship, come with good and evil. Theodore is in no way devoid of problems, but it is not a red flag of walking like Josh is in “Companion”. It may be the biggest difference. Theodore is a man capable of treating a relationship, even if it is with a computer, with respect. Josh is not.
/ The original criticism of the film of “Her” called him a “warm and thoughtful vision of future love”. Jonze suggests that these AI ways for the company can have their place, but that they should in no case be a replacement for real human interaction. They certainly should not be treated like S *** simply because they are not “real” in the traditional sense. It takes a more neutral and higher vision of what the closest future can look like the era of technology that we cannot hope to stop.
During the years that followed the release of this film, we have gone through a pandemic, an insurrection to the American Capitol, the introduction of generative AI tools to the general public and another division of the company. In this way, “she” almost looks like a possible vision of the future that we have since abandoned.
Companion and they both agree on a key element of the future
Do not say the evidence here, but “companion” and “she” are very different films. However, they have the impression of doing a perfect double feature, offering us humans two glimpses in the future which is in a way, form or form, to come. We cannot stop AI. We cannot stop the concept of AI companions to become something. What we can do is decide how we want to manage what is happening. Perhaps it will not be as nightmarish as “The Terminator” by James Cameron, but it is starting to have the impression that it could become risky.
These films both agree that robot partners are inevitable. A decade ago and a change, Jonze thought there was a positive version (ISH) of what it might look like. In 2025, Hancock suggests that the majority of humanity is ugly and cannot trust such technology, but that it happens anyway so that things become bizarre – and perhaps bloody. In this way, “Companion” looks like a cousin close to “M3gan” by Gerard Johnstone. Sad to say, through modern eyes, “her” looks like a stupid hope. Maybe it’s just me.
Anyway, these two films have the impression of having a conversation between them – an important conversation for that. More than that, it is a reminder that gender cinema is invaluable for the canon of cinema. Horror and science fiction are more than simple cheap chills. Hoping that the vision of Hancock is more an edifying story than a predictor of what will happen.
“Companion” is now in theaters.
