Upgrade is a 2018 Action/Sci-Fi movie written and directed by Leigh Whannell and stars Logan Marshall-Green as Grey Trace and follows the story of Grey a mechanic who works and sells vintage cars in a world where technology is much more advanced, but Grey much prefers being grounded in the old world before all this Artificial Intelligence. However after a robbery leaves him paralysed and his wife dead, he his is artificially altered to seek revenge on those who wrong him.
Now from first hearing about this movie I thought it just sounded like a sci-fi take on the Taken franchise, a generic revenge movie that isn’t all that good. However I then saw it was written and directed by Whannell, a frequent collaborator with his buddy James Wan (who I am a huge fan of) so thought he might give it a try. Upgrade blew me away. It convinced me that Leigh Whannell is now the brains behind the Wan-Whannell duo as much as James Wan has talent Upgrade blows anything solo James Wan has done out of the water.
First let’s talk about the performances Logan Marshall-Green is perhaps best known for the guy that looks a little like the more known Tom Hardy, but this movie proves he is needed more in the spotlight as a leading man and an actor in general. As Grey, before the accident you can see and feel how passionate he is with what he does with his cars, and how much he loves his wife and though he might not be the wealthiest guy on the planet he is more than happy living the life he has. Then toward the end of the First act you see his persona change he is grieving over his wife and the fact that he cannot do anything he loves anymore, he’s a mechanic, a practical man and also his other love his wife is also gone and this is a focusing point of the movie is that technology can get Grey’s life back to normal but Grey thinks a life without his wife isnt a life worth living and Logan Marshall-Green sells this flawlessly. There are other elements of Logan’s performance that i could delve into but honestly it’s treading in to major spoiler territory (honestly the less you know the better)
Another highlight is the direction, this movie looks beautiful, and given its low budget it shows that money doesn’t buy beauty for a movie, the talent creates it. There is so much going for it in this movie from the lighting, to the use of colours depending on the scenes (the ending especially) and most importantly the fight scenes. This movie has some of the most well choreographed fight scenes i have ever seen and some of them are hard to stomach. this movie goes all out on the gore if you have an upset for that sort of thing then this might not be for you. It’s all practical effects, it’s all brutal and my god is it glorious.
Let’s talk about the biggest positive in this movie and that is the story. Its takes a generic concept of a story and makes a roller coaster of a character driven story that every element has some addition to the story, every line of dialogue every character and every single scene advances the story or character development and it leads to a shocking and masterful finale, that may be in my opinion on of the greatest endings to a movie i have ever seen. Honestly Logan-Marshall-Greens’ performance gave me goosebumps and I’m getting them as i’m writing this review just thinking about it.
The best way to describe this movie would be a Chekhov’s Gun for those who don’t know what that is, it basically means that every element in a story must be relevant and necessary to advance and finish the story. A famous line in which the term comes from is “if you have a rifle hung up in the first act…it must be shot in the second or third” basically you never make false promises, everything has a purpose.
Honestly guys i know the premise doesn’t scream masterpiece but Upgrade flew under so many peoples radar and i know that in the coming years it’s going to be seen as a cult classic and one of the best sci-fi and action movies of all time. Leigh Whannell is a fucking genius’ and Upgrade is more than enough to prove it
Final Score.
Title:Masterpiece
Upgrade takes a generic story and totally flips the script to create possibly one of the greatest movies i have ever seen. Acting,Story,Visuals and everything else in between is the best it can be and sets new heights for low budget movies, Leigh Whannell is a force to be reckoned with and this movie alone proves he’s more than just James Wan’s friend.
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