Upgrade

Upgrade is the new movie from Blumhouse and director Leigh Whannell starring Logan Marshall-Green. The movie takes place in the near future where technology has advanced to new heights where AI is integrated into almost everything we do. Mashall Green plays a man named Grey Trace who is a more old-school man who doesn't really fully understand or appreciate technology like his wife does. While running an errand with his wife one night, they are both attacked by a mysterious group of men and Grey is left paralyzed for the rest of his life and his wife is murdered. This leads the creator of a tech company to offer Grey the ability to test his new project called STEM, which would give him the ability to walk move his arms again. What Grey doesn't know is that the STEM implant on his body will actually do more than just make his walk again, it will make him stronger than most humans. This leads Grey to seek revenge on the ones who attacked him and murdered his wife.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie, but the concept was very intriguing. I'm always up for a good sci-fi movie about futuristic technology and how it can affect our lives. This movie does a really good job of showing a world that is very plausible in our future while still seeming like it's somewhat far off from where we are currently at. Most of the tech in the movie is similar to things we are already toying and experimenting with like AI that can control a house and a car (Alexa and Siri) just way more advanced. It was presented in a believable way though, which was necessary to make the movie more impactful. It uses the tech to create a story that is kind of scary to think about the fact that it could happen one day. That was probably my favorite thing about this movie and it was really interesting.

Besides the interesting tech, there's a pretty gritty story here with lots of violence that was presented well. Some well-crafted action/fight scenes and some pretty creepy moments that worked with the character. I was reminded a lot of Robocop and the recent Dredd reboot from a few years ago, it has that sort of dark violence that was done really well in that movie. It's all presented well and the story moves along at a good pace, never really having a dull moment. I really liked Marshall-Green's performance in this movie, since he is the main focus of the movie it was good to have him as the main actor because he did a really good job. The rest of the side characters did well too for the time that they had on screen and kept the story interesting.

This is a lower budget film, but it really looks like they used every penny wisely to make a solid film worth watching. Behind all the violent action and crazy fights, there's an interesting story about technology and the potential it has in our world. It really makes you wonder how far we can go with it in our lives and how it will be used for good or for bad. This movie had me entertained the whole way through and if you're a fan of darker sci-fi movies like Dredd and RoboCop I think you'll definitely like this one. It's a good mix of that crazy violence with an interesting look at our current/future world.

Overall Grade: B+