Every year I think, "this is the year that movies are gonna be stagnant." However, I'm going on year 7 of thinking that, and I continue to be proved wrong. And it's because of movies like this. Upgrade is a familiar trope that thrills and satisfies audiences until the credits begin to roll.
As aforementioned, the beginning is a very tried and true format. Husband loves wife. Wife loves husband. Dickhead muggers kill the wife and paralyze the husband. After some "wouldn't it suck to be paralyzed" moments, the husband, Grey Trace (Logan Marshall Green) is approached by a wealthy inventor that claims he can make him walk again and will "upgrade" everything else. By now, you can see where this is going... If the cops won't bring down the men that murdered his wife, who will? Grey will.
In his quest to bring down his wife's murderers he discovers that there's more to it than there was at first glance. How many gallons of blood will he spill to get answers? A lot. And they're practical effects to boot.
The writer/director Leigh Whannell (Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious) knows how to weave a tale. Which is why I think this film plays so well. The brutality is what peaked my interest. The tight writing is what kept me in my seat. And the ending provided confirmation...it's a must see and worth the ticket price and the 4K/Bluray/DVD/VHS purchase. Or whatever the kids watch their shit on these days.
Synopsis: "The film centers on Grey Trace, a technophobe in a utopian near-future when computers control nearly everything – from cars to crime-surveillance – who is paralyzed in a freak mugging. But when a billionaire technologist offers him an experimental paralysis cure – an implanted computer chip called STEM – Grey finds that the chip has a voice and a mind of its own.”
Logan Marshall Green (Prometheus, Snowden, The Invitation) is joined by Betty Gabriel (Get Out, Purge: Election Year), Harrison Gilbertson (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Hounds of Love), Simon Maiden (The Dressmaker, Killer Elite) and Benedict Hardie (Hacksaw Ridge, The Light Between Two Oceans).
