Sometimes, all you need is a good old fashioned B-movie to take your mind off things. Blumhouse Productions typically makes exactly those kinds of movies, low-budget/low-quality horror movies which have turned me off of the genre, but they occasionally strike gold as well. It’s sometimes difficult to understand how the same studio that produced Truth or Dare and Happy Death Day is also responsible for Get Out (2017) and Whiplash (2014), both of which won Oscars and received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture. While Upgrade isn’t going to find itself on the receiving end of any Oscar nominations, it’s a surprisingly well made film that Blumhouse should be proud of.
At its core, Upgrade is about an analog man in conflict with an increasingly digital world, although it does boil down to something of an old fashioned revenge movie. After Grey’s wife is murdered in front of him and he is paralyzed by a group of men with cybernetic enhancements, he’s left in the care of machines he doesn’t fully trust or understand. A reclusive genius offers him a piece of untested tech and a second chance to find the men responsible for his wife’s death. Grey obviously accepts and things get intense from that point forward. I’m not going to include the trailer at the end of my review like I usually do, because it really gives away far too much and I think you’ll enjoy it better that way. Everything you need to know about the premise is right here.
Leigh Whannell is the man responsible for the first three Saw films and all four installments of the Insidious franchise. Long story short, he’s no stranger to low-budget horror films. He got his first crack at directing with Insidious 3 which really wasn’t that good, but he strayed further from his horror roots this time around. Many of those narrative elements are still present, but this was much more of a Sci-Fi thriller. The screenplay was focused on technological integration and how that trickles down into all the everyday minutia of our lives, but with clear apprehension surrounding fully automated control. That very fear drives the horror side of the flim and the two halves crash into one another in a chaotic and violent thrill ride. The dialogue wasn’t particularly strong, but there’s a kind of inner monologue that persists throughout the film and it was pretty enjoyable. Whannell had a very clear vision for this story and he brought it to life in unforgettable fashion. It has a great deal of style and plenty of originality to go around, without coming across as pretentious.
It may sound strange, but Logan Marshall-Green was surprisingly strong in the lead role as Grey Trace. He’s kind of the poor man’s Tom Hardy and I don’t know if he’s ever really gotten the opportunity to shine, so I didn’t expect too much. This role wasn’t rich with emotional nuance, as it maybe could have been, but it was certainly a physical. Marshall-Green reminded me a lot of Peter Weller in Robocop, subtly finding a way to interpret mechanical movements into a human form. Considering the nature of the story, his ability to demonstrate a high level of finite control over his body went a really long way in making the whole premise believable. Combine that with a dark sense of humor which worked perfectly with the ominous tone and he was really the engine that drove the entire movie. Oddly enough, this might be the movie that finally makes him a breakout star.
As good as he was in the lead, he was working with very limited help. Melanie Vallejo wasn’t believable for a moment as Grey’s wife, Asha, because there was no chemistry there. As the audience, we’re supposed to believe they are a loving couple but their first interaction is painfully awkward as they exchange barbs about not knowing, or caring, about what the other does for a living. This was certainly a script oversight because Asha functions as a plot device but not a real character. Thankfully she’s not in the movie long enough to ruin it. Harrison Gilbertson plays that reclusive tech genius I mentioned and, unfortunately, he wasn’t especially good either. He’s sufficiently weird, but his cadence and delivery didn’t resonate with any real weight. For one of the pivotal characters in the plot, he doesn’t command any kind of reverence on screen.
Benedict Hardie had the only other performance that was even remotely on the level as Fisk, the man who killed Grey’s wife. It was a cerebral and menacing portrayal. Cold and calculated…reminiscent of Robert Patrick’s iconic T-1000. Fisk is a killer, but it’s Hardie’s quiet storm that elevates the character. Every hero is made better, more impressive, by a strong villain and Hardie certainly fits the bill. The only problem is that he just wasn’t in it enough.
Felicity Abbott designed a very gritty future. Even with the self driving cars and fancy skyscrapers, the world of Upgrade is still very much in transition. Script references to machines putting people out of work are echoed in a world where old-school people have begin to go off-grid. Stefan Duscio captured those elements wonderfully with the excellent use of light and color. He also used some kind of a swivel cam to film the fight choreography which not only put you right in the action, but give you a perspective you really haven’t seen before. There’s a lot of close quarter combat going on and using a more dynamic camera gave the scenes that extra something special. All of these scenes are set to an eerie score from Jed Palmer that is constantly pushing a bubbling intensity.
Chris Weir choreographed some incredibly intense and violent fight scenes that were still incredibly fun to watch. Given the nature of the fights he was making, they were still about as grounded as they were going to get. Chris Anderson had to match that intensity as the stunt coordinator and there are some big moments that required a lot of timing and planning to execute, along with all the pieces integrated into the fight sequences. Vaso Babic and Edward Yates punctuated those fight sequences with horrifying realism. Their prosthetics were maybe the best I’ve ever seen…disgustingly so on more than one occasion. In our digital age, it’s nice see to that practical effects still bring so much to a film. This isn’t a movie that showcases gore just for the sake of it, but it sure does take full advantage of it.
Knowing just the premise, without having seen the trailers, I didn’t quite know exactly what I was walking into. This movie was on the edge of my to-watch list, but I barely caught it before it left all the theaters near me. It was very much a throwback film with contemporary themes, but it would have been right at home with some of my favorites from the late 80s and early 90s. At only an hour and 40 minutes, it moves along at a breakneck pace, so there is very little wasted time and the action makes it seem even quicker. This isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I walked out of the theater immediately wanting to watch it again. Once Upgrade makes its way to on-demand/home video, it’s going to become a cult favorite and possibly even a modern Sci-Fi masterpiece.
Recommendation: Fans of the action/Sci-Fi genre should definitely check it out. If you grew up in the 80s or 90s, then this kind of movie is probably more familiar and more palatable. With a lot of intense and graphic violence, it’s certainly not a family friendly film. I can’t wait to see it again.