If you know anything about the fact that this movie even exists, I’m honestly a little shocked. The ad campaign for this movie almost didn’t exist. But enough about that. Short up-front question: should you see this movie? If you like action and you’re not offended by gore, yes. If you are lame or a small child, no. I joke, but honestly this is definitely not for kids. The story telling is very direct and simple and that very much works in the movie’s favor. The pacing does seem a little on the fast side, but that works when considering the general setup of the film. The fast pacing actually helps with the suspension of disbelief and in drawing you in to the conflict of the main character Gray. I was a little miffed that he didn’t get very much in the way of actual character development, but Upgrade is very much a movie about ideas. And in all fairness, Gray’s character development does exist, it’s just way more subtle than what you typically see in other films. In fact, there are multiple elements within the film that are significantly more subtle than what you might expect on first glance. There’s a trope within movies that I absolutely hate because it’s very often a sign of lazy writing and that’s the “it was all a dream” ending. But infinitely to it’s credit, Upgrade completely subverts this trope and it’s very slick.
In closing, I would just like to say that if you like movies with original ideas or original takes on old ideas, go see Upgrade. The whole “ordinary man becomes superhuman because of mcguffin” has been done to death, but this movie still manages to make it interesting and compelling.
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