THE COMPANION (1994)
Okay ladies, this cybertronic movie is for you. You want the perfect man, he cooks, he cleans, he's a walking talking Ken Doll who does whatever you want him to, whenever you want him to do it. He'll read poetry to you, he'll be a tough guy when you want him to, and a sensitive guy when you want him to. You can completely control him, and he's always around. Until you get bored and you want him to be spontaneous and you're sick of telling him what to do all the time. Then things go wrong because this means he must have a mind of his own to do this...
Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek, Nowhere Man, I,Robot) is that man, he's a robot, and romance- novelist, Gillian Tanner played by Kathryn Harrold (Desperate Housewives, The Sender) finds out what it means to control a man, and what it means to be controlled by one. She gets herself a "Companion" Series android to have fun while she's writing her next romance novel at a cabin up north. She can program him to do whatever she wants and he lasts all night. He is programmed to learn, and is able to download all her novels, and anything else available on the net. He has thousands of recipes for gourmet dinners, and can dance, sing and recite works of literature, cook, clean, chop firewood, fix refridgerators, and buy groceries.
Starting out basically, as a butler who is her personal slave, she upgrades him for "personality" so that now she can have a boyfriend to totally control. His learning capabilities set him on the course for self-awareness, "artificial intelligence." She wants him to "love" her so she upgrades everything he needs to be her perfect companion, her perfect man. She's a romance novelist, she knows exactly what she wants. She stops writing her book and falls in love with her android, because no man could ever match this. They get invited to dinner by neighbors, an artist played by Brion James (Bladerunner, Cyberjack, Nemesis) and his girlfriend. The artist figures out that Geoffrey is an android and is offended by the idea of this romance novelist humping a droid, and offers himself crudely as the 'real thing,' but gets his ass kicked by the love-bot.
Still, the love-android isn't good enough for her though, the perfect relationship, the perfect romance, is boring to her, so she finally programs him for 'random data' so he will be spontaneous and surprise her once and awhile. Our RoboKen Doll is now becoming totally self-aware, and begins to pursue his own interests. She wakes up the next day and no more gourmet breakfast, he's gone! When he returns, "Where have you been?" and Geoffrey responds..."OUT." Now isn't that something familiar? So he now not only has a mind of his own and is no longer under her domination, he's becoming an asshole, which of course she likes at first... Then he becomes the controlling asshole in the relationship, FANTASTIC!
Not letting her go out, trying to convince her that it would be better for her to stay, he becomes the manipulative and dominating jerk. She tries to explain to him that he's just a robot but it's too late, she has already told him she loved him. He starts killing people. His random data has him doing bizarre and odd things, to 'protect' her. He's not just a robot gone berzerk, it's really her own fault for playing with his mind and being selfish... she has made him the monster he is and its funny, this is how so many 'nice guys' go down. Enter chase, enter nightmare, enter Ken Doll Killing Machine. This movie is quite entertaining and smart, though it has a low budget look of an Outer Limits episode, it is hilarious, and actually thought provoking. She wanted a mindless robot for a boyfriend and she got one, but this is how it all ends. As soon as he discovers he really does have a mind of his own, he's going to turn on you and it all ends in tears. Science fiction is awesome isn't it? My only complaint is that they have the neighbor, Brion James as a sleazy drunken lout artist who wants to practically rape her, and how well it would have worked if he was really charming and a real competition for the android. If only he had turned out to be perfect for her and it was too late because she's stuck with Psycho RoboKen. Otherwise all things work out great in the end for the plot and I give this movie a recommendation to all. Guys will have fun watching this knowing Geoffrey's going to have a TERMINATOR freakout, and girls will be treated to a twisted Lifetime movie about the 'perfect' romance.
Still only available on VHS!
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