Review of Upgrade (2018) by Intrippyentropy — 19 Jun 2019

7 months ago.

Upgrade is about a tech genius that is going to solve the world's problems with his invention of a implanted chip that turns you into a super man. It stars Logan Marshall Green as Grey Trace, who's always good, and Harrison Gilbertson as the crazy billionaire inventor. First off, he does not seem to be a genius. He does his best to seem odd . But it isn't unconvincing. Maybe more like a model male model reading from a teleprompter. The movie tries to show you that his house is amazing. But it just seems confusing. More like a bland government building then a mansion. He says obvious and inartful phrases like, "Never has a biomechanical fusion been asked to do so much." Our hero says, (Said as a 30 year old man doing his best to sound grizzled) "Here's the thing kid. I'm not looking to restart my life. I'm looking for the off switch." Then abruptly turns his head to the side as if to say, "Leave me now!", Like a daytime soap. After the implant operation, Grey struggles to walk for the first time. He stands and the camera zooms in on his crutches as they fall to the ground amid a crescendo of church organ. It's hard to know what they want us to think: Are they trying to be different? Winking at the audience? It was laughable. Taken as a dumb bloody action movie, there are a few bloody scenes. At some point it seems like they were going for ultraviolent but never got very inventive or quite nasty enough. I had the same problem with the premise here as I did with ex machina. If you have a priceless invention, a sentient robot or all-knowing embedded chip, who would you choose to test it out? Someone you knew and trusted, who is knowledgeable and responsible? Or an angry suicidal crime victim? Fisk, the nemesis, who's also upgraded, turns out to be the most interesting character in the movie. But just as he says a few sentences that would have made this worthwhile, our hero kills him. It is written and directed by Leigh Whannell whose credits include a long string of crappy horror and supernatural movies. The dialogue and direction would need a lot of work before this could be described as interesting or moving.