First things first: There's a key storytelling twist in "Companion," writer-director Drew Hancock's wickedly clever little horror thriller, which needs to be addressed in order to discuss the film in any meaningful way.

And it comes not at the end of the movie but near the beginning, so it's not so much a spoiler as it is a level-set. (The juicy reveal is also given away in the movie's trailers, so you very well may already know what's coming.)

Now that everyone's on the same page — if you don't want to know, go see it and come back here after! — "Companion" confronts today's realities of technology and AI with a darkly comic eye and a sly curl in its lip. It's as tech-minded as an episode of "Black Mirror," but one of its tricks is the way it subverts its perspective to turn the audience against the humans and put them on the side of the androids.

Yes, androids. That's the first of several swerves and it comes early in the story, after plucky Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and slightly sheepish Josh (Jack Quaid) have met cute at a grocery store and fallen deeply in love. They're off to one of Josh's friends' secluded homes for a weekend getaway, and Iris is nervous that Josh's friends don't like her and are unfairly cold toward her.

Upon arrival, Iris' fears are loosely confirmed when Kat (Megan Suri) opens up and tells her she makes her feel "replaceable." Why replaceable, of all descriptions? That's when the audience learns what Josh and his friends already know: Iris is a robot. Well, a sexbot, if we're being frank, and we are, because Hancock definitely is.

That little bit of information recontextualizes what has happened up to this point in "Companion," and it changes everything that comes after. But it's not the only twist or surprise up Hancock's sleeve, as he packs a wallop in his devilish feature film debut.

There's a murder, and a scheme, and a few more surprises which are too good to give away. Hancock's playful script and tight execution play with AI concerns and our modern impulse to ignore the user agreements, but flips them in such a way that we're the bad guys. It's like "T2" for sexbots, if the sexbots were the ones doing the storytelling.

Thatcher ("Heretic," TV's "Yellowjackets") plays an engaging hero, whose humanity is more than a switch that gets flipped. She's a doting romantic who becomes a fierce survivalist when she needs to, and Thatcher is a tough, smart, relatable lead in what feels like a star-making role.

And Quaid (yes, he's the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan), is appropriately smarmy as the story unfolds. He transforms from shy and sweet to menacing and controlling, his weakness and fragility always front and center. "Companion" weaponizes his frail ego and turns it into a damnation of modern masculinity: In a world where our partners are customizable, what other aspects of ourselves are we losing?

As friends in the group, Lukas Gage and Harvey Guillén make appealing sidekicks — Gage, with his Ken doll-like blankness, is especially effective — and Rupert Friend is just over-the-top enough as a wealthy sleazebag with a tacky Russian accent.

"Companion" is a sharp, sleek thriller with a hip modern edge to match its retro-chic aesthetic. Its twist gets you in the door, but it's only the beginning of the way it gleefully, deliciously spins viewers in circles, and leaves them thinking about the coldness of our modern world.

———

'COMPANION'

Grade: B+

MPA rating: R (for strong violence, sexual content, and language throughout)

Running time: 1:37

How to watch: In theaters Jan. 31

———

©2025 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.