Director Leigh Whannell
Starring Logan Marshall-Green, Melanie Vallejo, Steve Danielsen
Rated MA
Score 5/6

Set in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But when Grey, a self-identified technophobe, has his world turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental computer chip implant called Stem.

For those of you who might have forgotten back in June I had the chance to interview Production Designer Felicity Abbott who worked on Upgrade.

Upgrade is only the second movie that Leigh Whannell has directed the other being Insidious: Chapter 3, though he also known for his involvement with the Saw franchise.

Being that it is set in the near future Upgrade is the kind of science fiction movie that gets to pose some really interesting ‘what if…’ scenarios that shows some very interesting possible directions in medical research, driverless cars and police surveillance. It’s also scary to think that the current direction of things there might indeed be a generation that when handed a wad of bank notes they will look at the money with a ‘like oh my good wow’ expression on their face.
Part of me wishes that I had actually got the chance to watch this one at the cinema so I could really appreciate Whannell and Abbott’s vision for the near future though I don’t actually remember seeing any previews for this one at the friendly neighbourhood cinema. Both Logan Marshall-Green and Melanie Vallejo gave good performances. But what really stole the movie were the fight sequences. They were unlike anything that I have seen in recent years. There is the effortlessness that you would readily associate with the fight sequences of almost every action superstar working today and yet with Upgrade there is the kind of effortlessness were Marshall-Green’s character Grey could have been substituted with one of the Tracy brothers from the old Thunderbirds television series.
Whannell has delivered something to the screen that has possibly left more then a few people wondering (myself included) ‘how long is it until they invent something like that…’ when thinking about the Stem computer chip. Upgrade actually proves to be more than your garden variety revenge movie and something that is more scary then it seemed, something that really needs to be explored in any potential sequel.