'Upgrade' A Review

Upgrade is a scifi action thriller about the near future where most everything is automated to some degree. Grey(Logan Marshall-Green) is a house husband who moonlights as one of the last conventional auto mechanics. His wife Asha(Melanie Vallejo) a computers executive, go to drop off an vintage car to recluse genius Eron Keen(Harrison Gilbertson) where he shows them his newest piece of tech STEM which is set to connect to anything and improve on it. On their way home their automated car malfunctions, they crash, and Grey is left paraplegic. He agrees to surgically implant STEM to regain his motor functions but the results are way beyond mobility.

Logan Marshall-Green is decent as the lead, it takes a couple minutes to get past his resemblance and attempted channeling of Tom Hardy, his emotional performance is serviceable but his physical performance, which is ultimately what the movie is about, is what really shines. The supporting cast are all good, notably Benedict Hardie as creepy mustachioed villain Fisk, but most of the cast are all secondary to Marshall-Green and the vocal performance of Simon Maiden.

The propulsive plot and the sharp and gritty production design are what really engages in the film. The cinematography for the fight scenes employs a unique and exciting technique having Grey, essentially, be stationary during action sequences as the camera spins and whirls around him. It is deliciously effective. The film is delightfully grotesque, darkly comic, with a simple but fun story, and innovative low budget action. A throwback to 80's scifi with a modern message- digital terror.

See It.