Upgrade (2018) – Review

Every year there are only a few films in which there are shots that amaze me. Moments where I wonder how they are made or that overwhelms me visually (but that might be a subject for a separate article). When you watch a lot of movies it’s much more difficult to get wowed and you hope to see inventive imagery that feel fresh/new. Initially, I had no idea that Upgrade would be a title that had such characteristics. It starts as a fairly average science fiction story, but from the moment above I could not wait to see what else the film had in store.

Gray Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is a car mechanic who really doesn’t want anything to do with technology. Due to unfortunate circumstances however, he becomes paralyzed and loses everything that is dear to him. He wants to take revenge on those who are responsible and agrees to have a new implant placed. The chip, Stem, can control his body and communicate with him. It helps him to find the people he is looking for and slowly discover what is going on.

  For a film that, according to Wikipedia, had a budget of just 5 million dollars (which is small in the film world), it looks stunning. Visually it is beautiful and the futuristic world is convincingly presented with slick interfaces, self-driving cars and pizza printers. Marshall-Green is excellent and convinces as a man who is amazed at what his body can do if Stem takes control. This results in a number of very bloody moments that also contain the necessary humor and are therefore a joy to watch. The way in which the fights are filmed, for example, where the camera moves with Gray, give it a unique dynamic. The plot that revolves around revenge may not be original, but what this title builds around that fact makes it a film that makes you excited for what it might have in store next. You could describe it as a mix of various science fiction and revenge films, but Upgrade is more than the sum of its parts. If you know how to combine all the elements in the way this does and can make them feel fresh, then I would rather have that than the umpteenth remake which lacks any originality.
[score10]