Upgrade (2018)

[baumer]

Discuss

[GroceryGuru]

There were eleven of us in the theater at the twilight show and we all stayed in our seats as the credits began. the ending (and I won't spoil it) was more than I expected from this seemingly B-movie. The effects were good, the screenplay, good. The acting was okay. Most were fine, but the lead had a few moments where I thought of the low budget Youtube 5-minute episodes that I watched earlier that day. Still, the action sequences were unique and edge of your seat. 

 

We know from the start that we are set in the 'near future' and life looks nice if you are on the right side. A statement about economics, drones, being off grid, etc can be found as I absorbed this world and accepted things like anyone should to enjoy a scifi action film. If bad acting makes it hard for you to suspend disbelief, then the ending might not be enough to make this film end in the green. For me it was a solid hit that I hope to enjoy again when it comes to other services. 

 

[That One Girl]

This is the kind of small-budget sci-fi thriller that needs to be funded more often.  It has a lot of excellent concepts and it pulls them off all skillfully.  Very unique fight scenes that somehow manage to be intense despite the lead character being nearly indestructible.  I have a few minor quibbles with it but it's rare to see a film be as gleefully enjoyable and unpretentious as this.  A-

[aabattery]

Good fun. Pretty much a Black Mirror episode with some cinematic flair. I liked the twisty ending. Solid work from Budget Tom Hardy.

[WrathOfHan]

I enjoyed Upgrade. The action in the movie is on point, and I like that the movie takes its time getting into gear. The third act lost me a little, but it picks up again for the ending. Good movie! 8/10 | B

[K1stpierre]

Saw this before I saw Action Dump, and wow......see this is why I love going in blind for movies. You just never know what kind of film will either make you sleep....or blow your expectations out of the way.

 

Don’t get me wrong, this film isn’t like a magical masterpiece. It’s a solid film, and that’s what makes it perfect for me. So many films reach and try to make it more than what it is (which I’m not against, as long as it’s done right) but fail. This film tip toes the line within the main character between being a badass yet also vulnerable at the same time. The acting I thought was spot on, the film’s pacing was great. And for once in a great while, a film actually utilizes gore the right way and doesn’t just throw it in your face repeatedly. The ending I thought I had pegged about 2/3rds of the act in, until the very end. I didn’t see the twist but more inportantly how the director chose how to end the flick. I’m glad the director didn’t take the cliche happy ending route. This film I can’t believe right now is my top of the year, 96/100, 9.5/10, A+ rating.

[rjones1325]

If this was released in the 80s alongside the movies that inspired it, such as “The Terminator” and “Robocop,” this would’ve blown audiences’ minds. Now, while it isn’t mind-blowing, it is a nostalgic action roller coaster thrill ride that harkens back to the films of the 80s. In a time like today where every summer release is a tent pole CG fest, “Upgrade” is a release that feels more refreshing than ever. This 5 million dollar budgeted feature has all the elements to be that bloated action flick but, thanks to Leigh Whannell’s experience in working in low-budget flicks, “Upgrade” thankfully looks as great in quality as your average blockbuster. All of the effects are practical and the action is brilliantly choreographed to make this layered action flick feel like an exhilarating awesome time.

 

If there was any movie to solidify my thoughts on the upcoming “Venom” film sucking, “Upgrade” is it. “Upgrade” features:

- Brilliant action sequences with outstanding choreography
- Gory violence
- An emotional narrative
- A Tom Hardy lookalike that I keep forgetting isn’t Tom Hardy

FULL REVIEW: https://www.rendyreviews.com/movies//upgrade-review

[YLF]

This movie is amazing. How can this movie on a budget of 3-5M look so good? It is a shame that blockbusters that have budgets of 150-200M dont even look this good. The CGI/VFX to me were flawless. This movie was great from start to finish.

 

A

[baumer]

My favourite movie of the year so far.  And one of my all time faves already.  An absolutely mind blowing action film, especially for the budget.  Leigh Whannell has just become one of my favourite directors.  This starts fast, stays fast and has one of  the ballsiest endings.  I just simply love this film.

 

9.5/10

[La Binoche]

I looooved this movie when I left the theatre. It hasn't really stuck with me since, though. B/B+

[Barnack]

Not sure why I didn't liked it much.

 

I expected more over the top action violence ? Too little people in the theater making any humour attempt fell quite flat ?

 

Cast didn't work much for me (something a very rarely mind) except for the detective that was really good and sometime the lead.

 

With that budget you probably need to do it that way and having all that verbose exposition with the cheat of having to talk out loud (or the chip making you believe you had to talk out loud) was a solution. It was still impressive what they could do with that low budget now a day.

 

It start on an interesting premise (that we saw recently and will see more and more) of that more and more jobless post AI world transition, nice backdrop but does not do much with it (or I missed it). The lead does not seem to be quite aware about how much people are cyborgs or not (like the audience) while is wife and one of is client he is friendly with work in that industry seem a bit force, enough to make us think is wife was killed by her own company and that the movie will take that scandal direction, to finally just create a misdirection.

 

Couple of mechanics were just strange, like when the chip owner would at distance loose/close a percentage of control on the chip ?

 

Do we ever get why the upgraded guy killed is wife ?

 

None of this would have mattered (or even remarked) obviously with better actions scene and camera (the video game like third person following...).

 

 

 

[Joel M]

Simply amazed at how good this movie was. First of all it just looks amazing, the effects and the futuristic setting look so seamless it's hard to believe it was such a small budget film. The concept is really well thought out and executed perfectly. It has gore when it needs to, it has humor when it needs to and one of the most impressive things about it is the world building. Without ever losing the focus of the small scale story, it's setting up the have/have not's future and its gadgets but never stops the movie to overexplain it, we get just a brief picture and only what's important for the narrative.

 

The movie is so lean and mean without any fat and zeroes in 100% on the lead's emotional journey and the premise which is really inspired. I don't know if the writer's original idea was "what if Death Wish but a voice in his head forced him to" but it felt to me a lot like it, either way it's brilliant. Logan Marshall Green was also so good in this, and he was also very good in The Invitation a few years ago, so I won't make any Tom Hardy jokes about him after this.

 

big spoilers

At one point halfway through when they kept not introducing any other candidate to be "the man behind all this" outside of Keene I thought I would be dissapointed by the end. Because it became obvious early on that everything (the assault, the stem, the other upgraded) will tie back to him since there was no one else, not even as a red herring. And then the movie is like fuck red herrings that's lame. Yeah he did it! But really the Robot did it! And then it throws at you the most terrible played out twist of all time "it was all a dream" but it's a fake out. The robot really did it and it won! I'm sure some of the plot won't hold up for the "Everything wrong with X movie in 5 minutes" crowd, but the way the movie fucks with the audience in the final stretch is really something. And it never loses the emotional core of the story either. Even the it was all a dream fakeout was not just a "gotcha" meta moment, it also served as a pretty tragic conlusion for the hero's arc.

 

What a fucking great movie and it came out of nowhere. Comfortably best of the year till now for me.

[The Stingray]

This movie was a blast!

 

9/10

[Daxtreme]

So this movie is yet another reminder of just how much money is being wasted on Hollywood productions. 

 

5 million dollars and this movie has better CGI and action scenes than most blockbusters including (and especially) the likes of phenomenon Black Panther.

 

I liked the fight choreography aesthetics. Sure it was filled with quick cuts but that was actually the point. I'm not gonna delve into spoilers here but at least this movie understood the reasons why it chose to frame and cut the fights the way it did, really one of those few instances of a director filming action in a way that serves the story and not just for some specific thrills (although it's an added bonus). 

 

It's just a nice, self-contained sci-fi movie that knows exactly what it wants to be. Sure the acting isn't anything to write home about, but it's adequate enough for me to give it a pass on that front. The writing, however, is pretty good and plays sufficient ball with its characters for it to be engrossing.

 

Director Leigh Whannell will be one to watch for sure. More movies like this please!

 

8.3/10

[EarlyDeadlinePredictions]

I enjoyed it a lot. A really well made small scale action/scifi flick. The plot was straight forward and I enjoyed the twist even though it was kind of obvious. Action scenes were fun and the I like the lead character's performance. 

 

8/10 (A-)