Upgrade (2018)

Grey Trace rebuilds old, analog cars and sells them to the very rich and his wife Asha works for Cobalt, a technology company. One day, he asks for her help to transport a car to a rich client, who happens to be the head of the company Vessel that rivals Cobalt. On the way back, their self driving car goes berzerk and crashes in the middle of an impoverished area. They escape the crash injured, but a gang of illegally augmented men kill Asha and paralyze Grey. The loss of his mobility and his wife puts him in a depression. When the head of Vessel offers an experimental augmentation called STEM that acts as another brain and will allow him mobility once again, Grey agrees when he realizes he has the chance for revenge.

Upgrade is a bit of a rollercoaster to watch. It starts off as many action films do, establishing our main hero, Grey, and his loving, perfect wife Asha. He enjoys working with his hands and doesn't use much of the fashionable technology (that includes implants in the body) that does everything for you. She is the opposite and works at a company called Cobalt that specializes in technological human augmentations. The world is futuristic enough to have some unfamiliar technology, but includes things we recognize like self driving cars and smart houses. Their marriage is adorable. They don't agree about some things, but they seem to be fine with that. Of course, this makes it all the more tragic when Asha is murdered and Grey is paralyzed from the neck down. This part of the film annoyed me as it's a tired trope that makes the woman a prop and the man so tortured and justified in his revenge. Grey becomes depressed, attempts suicide, and doesn't see the point of living until the head of Vessel offers him illegal technology to gain his mobility back.

This is where the film vastly improves. Grey has to pretend to be paralyzed when he isn't going out at night to find and kill the people who killed his wife. The varieties of technological enhancements is impressive, ranging from guns imbedded in arms to visual enhancements. Grey's puts them all to shame. The fight scenes show that he is essentially a puppet in all of this and have an efficient, mechanical style. He moves in ways no human should be able to and the camera follows him to give it an uncanny air. Grey himself is running around aimless trying to follow each clue while dodging criminals and police alike. STEM guides him and talks to him throughout his messy journey. He also doesn't have the stomach for torture or killing, opting to let STEM control his body while he closes his eyes and turns away. The ending smacked me in the face. I expected the typical ending of a hero victorious, but the trope is turned on its head. I should have seen it, but I was lulled into a sense of security by their use of tired tropes. This changed my perception of the whole film and I want to watch it again to catch all the clues.

I wasn't expecting a lot from Upgrade and the beginning met my expectations. The rest of the film exceeded them and surprised me. Logan Marshall-Green, who looks uncannily like Tom Hardy, keeps Grey sympathetic even when he's smashing faces and breaking arms. Harrison Gilbertson as Eron Keen, the head of Vessel, was the weak link acting-wise. It's as if he was trying to act as if he had autism or just bad social skills, but it came off horribly. Other than that, Upgrade is a fun sci-fi thriller that keeps you guessing.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins