Upgrade

Upgrade is unfortunately in the club of great movies that completely flew under the radar when first released. But that might actually work to its advantage, as this is definitely one of those movies where the less you know going in, the better. The only reason I was aware of Upgrade is because of writer/director Leigh Whannell (Saw, Insidious), and the fact I'd heard plenty of great things from friends who'd seen it. The film takes the all-too-familiar premise of a man looking to avenge the murder of his wife, and puts an interesting new sci-fi spin on it. Whannell clearly loves the classics, because Upgrade's influences are easy to spot - RoboCop, Blade Runner, Dredd, Death Wish. They've all been thrown in a blender, and what comes out is something that feels like its own movie, while also paying tribute to everything that inspired Whannell to become a filmmaker in the first place. Upgrade is violent, thought-provoking, funny, surprising, with some terrific fight sequences, an awesome soundtrack, and a dynamite performance from Logan Marshall-Green. I also get the feeling I'm gonna love it even more the next time I watch it. Highly recommended for fans of sci-fi/action.

After ten minutes I came close to switching it off, as I couldn't get into it, it felt as though they were spending too much time showing off future technology, however I stuck with it, and was glad I did, as it develops it really does open up, it became a wonderfully gripping and entertaining sci fi thriller. Very well acted throughout, a pretty original story, and lots of action scenes.

The accident really does change the movie up, and the tone, it really is well worth a look, the ending may come as a surprise for some.

Very good, 8/10.

This film is basically "Robocop" meets "Death Wish", with less satire than the former and more humor than the latter. And it's a B movie blast. An unrelenting pace, fantastic fight choreography that doesn't skimp on the gleeful blood and gore, and never not fun or interesting to look at.

Yeah some of the one-liner dialogue as delivered by Logan Marshall-Green feels a bit forced and the plot isn't exactly clever or unique, but damn it, it all works and it makes it's own beautiful alchemy out of a bunch of borrowed parts. This is cheap genre filmmaking done right.

I went into this movie having no clue what it was about and wasn't expecting much, but I loved it.

There are innumerable movies with huge budgets that simply fall flat, and Upgrade, with a Budget of around $5,000,000, which doesn't cover the cost of catering on some of these huge budgeted flops, honestly looked like it cost a lot more than it actually did.

Intelligent script, good action, very few unnecessary scenes, and though I thought it was sure to let me down, a very good ending.

And although I have seen much of Logan Marshall-Green's work and was never a huge fan, he does a very good job here.

Recommended.

Through and through this movie felt like a longer episode of black mirror. The production was higher and the cinematography was really cool. I could see how the stabilization lock on his head during fight scenes could make some people dizzy, but I thought it was a unique way of doing things. Some of the acting was sub-par during the casual interactions, but I thought the plot and action made up for it. It's thought provoking in the way Black Mirror is and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys that content and doesn't mind gore.