"While I am state of the art, I am not a ninja."

Upgrade

Mini Non-Spoiler Review

[June 01th, 2018]

[R, 1hr 40min, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller]

As much as other recent features that came out, those that are being talked about positively especially by the Collider crews would always be my priority to seek out to fill my movie quota of the week. One of the movies that are on top of the list is Upgrade for blending action and science fiction effectively for a one-of-a-kind film, and I may have to agree after watching it just recently!

With Deus Ex: Human Revolution having a permanent resident in my pop culture mind, I couldn't shake how similar the high concept of that world and their views of human augmentations with that of Upgrade, with the latter's main protagonist having a more personal journey to avenge his wife's death by searching for the killers with the help of high tech AI chip embedded in his spine. That is the basic premise of the feature as we how people are being affected by the rapid advancement of technology for better or for worse and that third act revelation and the subsequent ending is albeit a bit by the book, you can't say it is as predictable as any other action flicks out there. I was caught by surprise really and even though I could see it coming as the end approaches, this never lessen the storytelling in my eyes at all. The premise is simple in simplicity yet high in concepts and the final execution is quite solid despite being from a comparatively smaller studios.

I cannot allow us to be killed.

Let's focus on that action sequences, shall we? Specifically hand to hand combat, the artificial twist of the diet Tom Hardy's (I apologize, Logan Marshall-Green!) character being controlled by an A.I. makes him such an efficient fighter that the opponents look dead to rights in comparison. Added to that the 'motion stabilizer' effect that gives every instance of STEM taking over its own particular visual flair and adding its own unique style and momentum to every scene. It is the first time if I recall correctly that this type of camera effect is being used prominently in a motion picture and I want to warn those who couldn't get used to it that it would be used for the remainder of the film after the chip is installed thirty minutes in. The banters between Grey Trace and STEM in the transitional scenes and even during the fights are quite a delight to me especially when he is horrified by how far the AI would go in disposing of the bad guys, so to speak. The script is really solid and being adapted competently by the director Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 3), putting this movie over the usual B-movie low budget actioneers.

Watch it for the unique blend of action and sci-fi that you might not be able to see anywhere else.

-  IMDb - official - RT - wiki -

"We are going to finish the job we started."

P.S. Those violence though are Bone Tomahawk level!