'Companion' Review, 'Sonic 4' Release Date, Blumhouse's Declining Rizz and Netflix's Big Ratings For Bad Movies
Drew Hancock concocts a modern New Line classic, as 'Sonic' has become an old-school franchise while Blumhouse needs its mojo back and Netflix wins again.
In tonight’s newsletter…
- Companion is a distinctly New Line Cinema kinda romp (un-paywalled)
- Paramount dates Sonic the Hedgehog 4 for March 2027.
- Blumhouse’s The Drop gets a “Don’t give up on us yet!” trailer.
- Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz’s Back in Action nabs Netflix’s top debut in years as…
- Carry-On becomes Netflix’s third most-watched film.
Companion review -
No, that seemingly spoilerific second theatrical trailer for New Line’s Companion isn’t quite as thrill-spilling as you might have feared. That’s partially because the film itself drops too much information right off the bat. However, beyond that, the big “reveal” (which I will eventually disclose) A) drops just after the first reel and B) is information that all the characters already have when the picture begins. If you walk into the film already knowing that… spoiler, I suppose… the young woman played by Sophie Thatcher is a robotic companion, you’ll just be able to snicker or squirm accordingly as the human characters initially mingle and exchange awkward glances and drop lines with retroactively obvious double meanings. Is that a spoiler? I guess so, but I liked already knowing that James Woods was the bad guy in Roland Emmerich’s terrific White House Down, as it made the early scene where he sends his favorite agent home early somewhat bittersweet.
Moreover, the choice to set Companion in a world where robot people are at least somewhat conventional and readily available items does the picture a great service. Think of Seth MacFarlane’s terrific Ted, which ingeniously made the whole “teddy bear came to life” thing a non-secret. Preemptively establishing the fantastical hook as a standard, non-sensationalist element allows the picture to A) avoid protracted scenes where Jack Quaid’s Josh has to hide the fact that his girlfriend is a robot and B) hit the ground running with the freedom to tell a pulpy and twisty caper that uses the specific “like our world, but with one key difference” gimmick to maximum advantage. To paraphrase Shania Twain, writer/director Drew Hancock and his BoulderLight Pictures pals know that the mere existence of robot sex bots don’t impress us much, so Companion (opening theatrically from Warner Bros. Discovery next week) uses that as the launching pad rather than the majority of the destination.
Where the movie goes after the first 20 minutes, I will not reveal. Still, it has more games to play beyond merely using Iris’s idealized obedience and carnal appeal to comment on misogyny and toxic masculinity. Again, that almost goes without saying, so the film merely uses that as a curtain raiser as it unfurls with lightning speed (both Companion and One of Them Days speak to the value of the packed-to-the-gills 90-minute movie) and offers unexpected comic twists, oddly compelling grace notes and plenty of ghoulish surprises. Quaid goes full-asshole with minimal compromise, while the likes of Megan Suri, Lucas Gage and (especially) an against-type Harvey Guillén offer unexpected pleasures amid a jolly romp that’s more sci-fi comedy than punishing horror. If it needs to be said, Thatcher over-delivers. It has frankly been a delight watching her, whom I first noticed in Quibi’s When the Streetlights Go On, achieve a certain level of fame and genre-specific “stardom.”
Hancock has delivered an exceptionally well-made and genuinely original genre flick that offers “worth seeing on the big screen” value, even with its comparatively claustrophobic “takes place mostly in a single large location” confines. Companion feels at peace with what New Line Cinema represented in the 1990s. The studio had a knack for having its finger on the pulse of present-day youth pop culture. They were releasing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spawn and Blade while The Rocketeer, The Phantom, and The Shadow were playing in empty theaters. That’s not even counting generational favorites like Dumb and Dumber, Se7en, Set It Off and Rush Hour, or that their Lord of the Rings worked by hooking general moviegoers who knew little about J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. One movie doesn’t start a revolution, but New Line should again be allowed to be a place for cost-effective, timely genre flicks (not just horror) aimed at today’s kids and about today’s big questions.