Upgrade (2018) Review

Upgrade (2018) comes from writer director Leigh Whannell. Grey is an old-fashioned mechanic living in a world everything is becoming mechanical and automated. Still clinging to the traditional way of living, he doesn’t use any of the modern tech that make up the world. Grey builds muscle cars for people who still want them. After delivering his last car, and being introduced to STEM, the most high-tech innovation for upgrading humans, Grey and his wife are assaulted. The assailants kill greys wife and leave him paralyzed. Eren, the creator of STEM tells him that there is a way he can walk again if Grey allows them to install STEM into his spine. STEM not only gives grey the ability to walk again, but incredible fighting and processing abilities. STEM agrees to help Grey and the rest of the movie is Grey trying to solve his wife’s murder.

I know this movie has been out for a while, but I felt the need to do it. I’ll start with the things I liked. The fight scenes are for the most part, cool. They are different from the traditional fight scenes as they seem more mechanical and calculated. The way STEM takes over and moves GRAY’s body is inhuman and it works. Gray himself is also an interesting character because he isn’t a traditional action hero. Gray is remorseful, he doesn’t want to kill, he’s afraid, and he constantly expresses this. Gray is human, but there are moments when he get’s cocky and emotional and STEM will point it out. Gray is flawed and the only reason that he is capable of being this action hero is because he has STEM. I liked that a lot because this is a action hero that isn’t immortal and it is definitely refreshing.

As for the bad, it gets a little dull. Some of the fight scenes are not great and I got bored on some of them. There is a really boring car chase. It got to the point where I was really only waiting for him to fight more people because although the concept of the plot was cool, the execution was kind of boring. I liked the first half, where he is dealing with being a paraplegic, but then after he gets stem it just got kind of boring if it wasn’t a fight scene. But that is just me. And who am I but some guy who writes movie reviews for fun.

The film itself is a solid watch. I don’t I can watch it again, or if I do it won’t be for a while. But I don’t regret watching it. I recommend it to any one, especially if you are looking for an action movie that doesn’t follow the formula. It is definitely a neat film. I rate it a 7 out of 10.