Watching the trailer for Upgrade, one gets the impression it’s intended to be an action/comedy revenge flick. In fact, it’s an intense sci-fi/horror thriller. The trailer reveals the basic premise. Bad guys paralyze protagonist Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) and kill his wife, Asha (Melanie Vallejo). Tech genius Eron (Harrison Gilbertson) implants a computer chip called STEM (Simon Maiden) in Grey’s neck that allows him to walk again and that can, when instructed, act autonomously. With his newly regained mobility, Grey sets out to find the men who ruined his life.

Written and directed by Leigh Whannell, the film runs a tight hour and forty minutes and effectively uses every minute to build a compelling world and develop Grey as a character. Set in the near future, Upgrade unfolds in a place where high tech digital devices coexist with current-world analog. The movie opens with Grey rebuilding the engine of a muscle car in his garage as Asha arrives home in a self-driving autonomous vehicle.

The theme of analog vs digital is ingeniously explored as Grey and STEM pursue the murderers. STEM is an artificial intelligence with complete mastery of the digital world, but it cannot detect or influence analog devices. Grey, on the other hand, is wary of digital tech and avoids it whenever possible. The interaction between digital AI and analog man, highlighting the strengths and limitations of both, is brilliantly executed. Continue reading →