Directed by:
Leigh WhannellScreenplay:
Leigh WhannellCinematography:
Stefan DuscioComposer:
Jed PalmerCast:
Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Melanie Vallejo, Benedict Hardie, Simon Maiden, Richard Cawthorne, Christopher Kirby (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
In a utopian near-future when technology controls everything, a technophobe avenges his wife’s murder and his own paralysis-causing injury with the help of an experimental computer chip implant – STEM – that turns out to have a mind of its own. (MUBI)
Videos (2)
Reviews (13)
The most original little big cyberpunk B-movie in at least a few years. It has all the ideas, the swagger, the brilliant action and the blown heads that fans of revenge sci-fi need in regular doses every now and again. The production design is intentionally understated, with post-rock music that gives it the right mysterious atmosphere and moderate clear action without big military passages like in the Terminator franchise, but with a story that allows the filmmakers to indulge in relatively breakneck excesses. Whannell knows exactly how to mix this shake. Great fun.
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Actually, I have no words. Upgrade is one hell of a cyber punk movie. A clever hard-core sci-fi, with the actor in the leading role who from now on should appear only in the best blockbusters (and I don't mind that he is an Australian copy of Thomas Hardy, known from the series Quarry) and especially with the story which can at any moment explode into a rollercoaster of emotions that the audience cannot handle all no matter how hard they try. One more exciting aspect is that you cannot expect or predict this explosion. I have not seen such a well-written and well-filmed sci-fi with such a good atmosphere and music in a long time.
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What’s the best method for revenge? Connect the internal automaton and bypass the conscience. A masterful work both visually and acoustically, which in the first half sometimes feels like a mechanical prank, but in the end removes all doubts. Bloody and realistic cyberpunk cleverly working with a minimalist design and distorted filming and a soundtrack that awakens memories of Deus Ex in me ... I'm installing it! Ex Machina without unnecessary feeling of being too smart, a good mixture of B-movie momentum and A-movie solutions.
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With its spectacularly upgraded vengeance drama theme, Upgrade tells a story as simple as old Van
Damme karate flicks, but with a futuristic dimension more reminiscent of – due to its lower budget –
the original Terminator. This action sci-fi movie is innovative with some original details and has slight
cult potential. Whannell surprised us. Even Wan himself couldn’t have shot it better.
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John Wick meets Robocop and Black Mirror. I had fun and it didn't seem stupid to me at all. Quite the contrary. The world of the future surprised me with its thoughtfulness, and I was excited by all imaginative implants, especially the weapon implants. Although... there was no time for any major explaining or pausing over the action of the protagonist, the plot is not superb, everything is resolved briskly on the march, and thanks to the direction it has style and thanks to the script, it makes sense. Last time I was this pleased was when I watched District 9.
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