Upgrade.

Review #1093: Upgrade.

Cast: 
Logan Marshall-Green (Grey Trace), Betty Gabriel (Cortez), Harrison Gilbertson (Eron Keen), Benedict Hardie (Fisk), Melanie Vallejo (Asha Trace), Christopher Kirby (Tolan), Clayton Jacobson (Manny), Sachin Joab (Dr. Bhatia), Michael M. Foster (Jeffries), Richard Cawthorne (Serk), and Simon Maiden (STEM) Directed by Leigh Whannell.

Review: 
Admittedly, this is a film that came up on my radar of interest out of nowhere (as it had been out in America for over a week), but how could I not resist a science fiction film that also doubles as a body horror film? The end result of combining these two genres is a movie that turned out to be quite satisfying for my tastes. Within its low budget and b-movie sort of aim, Upgrade is unabashedly entertaining in its exploitation roots (with Whannell having served as the writer for the first three Saw films along with the Insidious series) without resorting to insulting the intelligence of its viewers. It feels like a cross between The Six Million Dollar Man, Death Wish, and RoboCop (1987), complete with a touch of dark humor that goes along with trying to tell a story of revenge that occasionally sprinkles itself with sci-fi. It manages to get the ball rolling around its middle parts with Marshall-Green and Maiden interacting with each other rather adeptly as man and AI, respectively. It isn't too particularly deep with its positions (aside from the occasional bit involving AI), but there is a certain enjoyment from how it moves itself without becoming too typical. The action and horror sequences are executed pretty well, looking pretty convincing with its movements for the most part without being too blurry or too gratuitous (if one is into that, anyway).

Marshall-Green is fairly effective, playing his every-man sort of role fairly handily, having a fine amount of timing when it comes to the action sequences or interacting with the other cast-mates that helps make the film (made in Australia) a pleasure to watch and elevates what could've been a generic hero role into something that works. Gabriel doesn't have as much time on screen to really make her role too particularly developed besides something you'd see in other films involving detectives pursuing the main lead, but she does a relatively fine job in making the character click enough without being too generic. Gilbertson certainly lends this inventor role a bit of closed off nature that clicks weirdly enough for his brief time on screen. The villains for the movie aren't too particularly involving, but Hardie does work well enough for what the film wants in its pursuit of bloody action. At 95 minutes, the movie has a solid pace to it that never stretches itself too artificially, knowing when and where to stop, with an ending that certainly clicks cleverly enough. It is a familiar sort of ride at times, but it is an enjoyable kind of ride most of the time to make a solid gem in my view.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.