Upgrade (2018)

What if you were told that there was a way for people that are paralyzed whether it be from the waist or neck down that there was something they could do to regain motion? I am thinking that a lot of people would certainly jump at the opportunity to do so because I probably would. That is the very question we face in today's film Upgrade which is a Sci-Fi, Action, and horror film that was written and directed by Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 3). The film stars Logan Marshall-Green (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Grey Trace, a mechanic who also happens to be a technophobe, but unfortunately his life will be turned upside down when his wife is murdered and he is left as a quadriplegic. One day, he is offered the chance to walk again by planting a computer chip in his spine and after he accepts it, he goes on a mission to track down the men that wronged him. The film also stars Melanie Vallejo (Power Rangers: Mystic Force) as Asha Trace, Harrison Gilbertson (Need For Speed) as Eron Keen, Benedict Hardie (The Light Between Oceans) as Fisk, Betty Gabriel (The Purge: Election Year) as Det. Cortez, Simon Maiden (The Great Raid) as Stem, Richard Cawthorne (Wolf Creek) as Serk, and Christopher Kirby (Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge Of The Sith) as Tolan.

Ultimately this is another lesson in why technology will be the death of us because nothing worth wild comes without the fine print or the bottom line if you may. I am definitely so happy that I chose to check out this film because when it originally came out, I didn't have time to see it, but this was thinking a little outside the box called Hollywood and running with something original. It's a breath of fresh air in a world polluted with remakes and reboots and good for Leigh Whannell because that whole Saw crew have turned out to be amazing writers. I was glued to my seat the whole entire time because the action is bad ass and the story is just so well written. I though the hunt for the men who did it and the sequences that followed owed a little bit to the film The Crow as he is back to right the wrongs, but there is just this little twist at the end of the film. My screenwriter professor once told me that if you were going to take an idea that was already done, you had to do something different to it to make it original whether it be weapons upgrades or into the future like Leigh did for this film. I loved the cinematography with all the cool fight scenes, but the tone deserves some notice. It has a very brooding look and feel to the film in an almost futuristic feel like Blade Runner and so many more. Some may find my final grade a little shocking, but this was worth the watch and then some so that is why I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.