Upgrade (2018)

[Dave Upton]

Title: Upgrade

Tagline: Not man. Not machine. More.

Genre: Thriller, Science Fiction, Action, Comedy, Horror

Director: Leigh Whannell

Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Linda Cropper, Richard Cawthorne, Christopher Kirby, Benedict Hardie, Melanie Vallejo, Richard Anastasios, Rosco Campbell, Linda Cropper, Renah Gallagher, Clayton Jacobson, Sachin Joab, Simon Maiden, Melanie Vallejo, Douglas Embry, Liam Howarth

Release: 2018-06-01

Runtime: 96

Plot: A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.

 

[Dave Upton]

Saw this last night via Movie Pass, and actually found it surprisingly enjoyable. Solid sci-fi meets grindhouse with a nice visual style.

I would describe it as a mash up of Ex Machina and Taken with a grindhouse flare.

 

[SamT]

I heard about this movie. Someone said this is the best movie you have not seen.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Used #MoviePass to view this the week it was released. I enjoyed it. I noticed the similarities to Robocop. Atrocities happened to the wife, but the results were still basically the same. "Happy???" ending was an interesting choice.

 

[Malcolm R]

Finally caught this last night after wanting to see it forever (I'm a fan of writer/director Leigh Whannell (Saw, Insidious). Very underrated film that was overlooked at the box office. Then again, it was released in the early summer when most of the sci-fi audience was still flocking to Solo, Deadpool 2, and Avengers: Infinity War. I think a different release date (late summer/early fall) would have served it better. But given it's low budget, it likely still broke even.

Mostly loved the film. Great looking film for a rookie director (this was his second directed film), though he worked closely with James Wan for years, so he likely picked up some pointers there. I was kind of disappointed at the rather predictable ending. Whannell tried to throw in a couple of twists, but it didn't seem like anything overly original and there was one thing that I didn't really catch:

Spoiler

How was STEM controlling Eron? It didn't seem like he had an implant. Or was it all just psychological leverage, "you'll do as I say or I'll ruin your business and your reputation"?

 

[Tino]

My wife and I also both loved the film. Waiting for the price to drop so I can buy it. So smart and entertaining.

 

[Malcolm R]

My wife and I also both loved the film. Waiting for the price to drop so I can buy it. So smart and entertaining.

Same here. It was $14.99 on a lightning deal last week, so I decided that was low enough for me.

 

[Tino]

Same here. It was $14.99 on a lightning deal last week, so I decided that was low enough for me.

Almost bit at that lightning price but I’ll wait till it’s $9.99. Shouldn’t be too long.

Too bad there isn’t a 4K stream on iTunes. I’d snap that up in a second.