Upgrade

Upgrade

Starring Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Melanie Vallejo

Directed by Leigh Whannell

The Story:
Married couple Grey (Logan Marshall-Green) and Asha (Melanie Vallejo) live in the not-too-distant future where their house and car are fully automated, except for Grey's desire to rebuild his classic cars.  While out for the night, their self-driving car seemingly malfunctions and lands them in the middle of a rough neighborhood, where they're ambushed by a group of men.  They shoot Grey in the back and murder Asha before driving away.

Three months later, Grey is a quadriplegic, and has lost all will to live, until mysterious Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson) offers him a solution - implanting Grey with a experimental computer chip called STEM (Simon Maiden) that will give him mobility again.  After the surgery, Grey discovers STEM has a voice, and will do whatever he commands him to do.  He goes in search of the men who killed his wife, and uncover a twisting web of deceit and deception where he can't trust anyone - not even his own body.

The Synopsis:
Upon viewing "Upgrade," you'd easily be able to associate it with other science fiction and action films like "Robocop," "2001," or "Death Wish," and you're right to do so - the film is basically all those films rolled up into one, but unlike other films who pay homage to films of the past "Upgrade" manages to do what its title suggests - upgrade all those concepts into something fresh, new, exciting, and most importantly entertaining.

"Upgrade" is a wholly original idea from the creative mind of Leigh Whannell - who also wrote and directed some of this century's most cerebral horror films "Saw" and "Insidious" - and it's an absolute thrill ride from start to finish.  The fighting sequences are reminiscent of "John Wick" with the insane camera angles, and the story goes far deeper than your normal vengeance movie.  The blood and gore are surprisingly strong for a non-horror film, and the cinematography offers a near-continuous night motif that allows for the idea of danger coming at every corner.

In the vein of "Robocop," the film features a man who is combined with machine, but in this case the machine is a computer chip that communicates with the man from his head.  Much like "Death Wish," he goes on a vengeance-filled rampage to avenge his wife's death, but he is always wary about actually killing anyone.  Much like "2001," the voice of STEM is reminiscent of the sentient HAL as he gives a continually monotone speech where you don't know what his true motives are, but there's ideals and concepts that go deeper even than HAL.

It seems to cheapen the concept of "Upgrade" by merely comparing it to other films, but as I said earlier, the film manages to upgrade those ideals and comparisons and turn them on their head in several shocking ways, all the while delivering all the blood, gore, and dark humor you'd expect from the likes of Whannell.  Without giving much away, the film goes far deeper than your typical run-of-the-mill revenge film, and will have to going in again to catch the small pieces you missed earlier - but you won't mind, because this is a film that can easily be seen again and again.

Logan Marshall-Green is becoming an independent film darling ever since he appeared in the criminally underrated "The Invitation."  Here, he struggles as a man who's lost everything, but then finds a way to achieve his own form of revenge, but still struggles with the humanity of it all.  When he first encounters STEM, he thinks he's gone insane, but then he learns that STEM works for him, and will only take charge once he gives him permission.  In his first outing against one of the bad guys, he allows STEM to take over, resulting in an incredibly fast-paced, stylized fighting sequence that also adds humor and intrigue as well.  This only serves as the stepping stone to even more epic fights and camera effects that keep you riveted to the screen.

Without giving spoilers away (because the film is THAT good), I will say that this film is easily one of the best I've seen this year so far, mixing a highly cerebral story, vivid action, over-the-top gore, and a strong charismatic lead.  I could go on about how amazing the film is, but I highly suggest you go and see it for yourself, especially if you're a fan of revenge films that upgrade it to the next level.

The Summary:
Paying homage to classic action films of the past, "Upgrade" manages to expound on them and take the best from each, while adding its own flair that elevates it to something even more amazing and wonderful to behold.

The Score: A+