10s Movie Review - Upgrade

Director: Leigh Whannell
Genre: Action/ Science Fiction/ Thriller
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Melanie Vallejo, Steve Danielsen, Abby Craden, Harrison Gilbertson, Benedict Hardie, Richard Cawthorne, Christopher Kirby

Description: Set in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But then the world of Grey (Logan Marshall-Green), a self-labeled technophobe, is turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental chip implant.

Review: There are very few film in which there are shots that know how to amaze, especially these days. I never expected “Upgrade” to be as good as it was.
Grey Trace is an car mechanic who really wants nothing to do with computers. However, due to unfortunate circumstances, he becomes paralyzed and loses everything he holds dear. He wants revenge on those responsible for this and agrees to have a new implant fitted. The chip, Stem, can control his body and communicates with him. It helps him find the people he is looking for and slowly discovers what is going on.
For a film that, according to information I found on the internet, the film had a budget of 5 million dollars, which isn’t a lot in the fim world. But there is nothing that suggests tha, because this movie is visually stunning. Logan Marshall-Green is also very good in the film.
The film has excessive violence and contains the necessary humor and is a pleasure to watch. The way the fights are filmed give the film a unique dynamic. The plot revolving around revenge may not be original, but they way the film was executed is. When you put all those element together, it makes it feel fresh. I would chose this over yet another unoriginal remake anytime.

Rating: 4 / 5

Netflix Friday - Volume 91

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: The Foreigner (2017)
A humble businessman (Jackie Chan) with a buried past seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. A cat-and-mouse conflict ensues with a government official (Pierce Brosnan), whose past may hold clues to the killers’ identities.
 

Drama: Straight Outta Compton (2015)
The rap group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
 

Comedy: The Big Short (2015)
In 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the US mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.
 

Animation: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
A wild stallion is captured by humans and slowly loses the will to resist training, yet, throughout his struggles for freedom, the stallion refuses to let go of the hope of one day returning home to his herd.
 

Romance: The Theory of Everything (2014)
A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife (Felicity Jones).
 

Horror: The Crazies (2010)
After a strange and insecure plane crash, an unusual toxic virus enters a quaint farming town. A young couple (Radha Mitchell, Timothy Olyphant) are quarantined, but they fight for survival along with help from a couple of people.
 

Science Fiction: Upgrade (2018)
Set in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But when the world of Grey (Logan Marshall-Green), a self-labeled technophobe, is turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental computer chip implant.
 

Crime: The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
A motorcycle stunt rider (Ryan Gosling) turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover (Eva Mendes) and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop (Bradley Cooper) navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective.
 

Thriller: Gerald’s Game (2017)
A couple (Carla Cugino, Bruce Greenwood) tries to spice up their marriage in a remote lake house. After the husband dies unexpectedly, the wife is left handcuffed to their bed frame and must fight to survive and break free.
 

Documentary: The River Runner (2021)
A kayaker sets out to become the first man to paddle the four great rivers that flow from Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.
 

Family: Wonder (2017)
Bases on the New York Times bestseller, this movie tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), a boy with facial differences who enters the fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.