Upgrade 4K 2018 Ultra HD 2160p

In the near future, a variety of technologies are involved in all aspects of human life. But in this technological world, Gray is one of the few people who likes to work with his hands. He restores and fixes old cars. One day, returning from a client, Gray and his wife get into an accident, and then - in the hands of a gang of thugs, as a result of which the woman is killed, and Gray is paralyzed below the neck. The same rich client offers the unfortunate man an experimental implant Stem, which can completely restore mobility.

Upgrade 4K Review
Gray Trace is a retrograde in the world of progressive cyberpunk: while everyone around him is happily augmenting everything that can be augmented, he prefers to work with his own hands and his own head. But after unknown robbers kill Gray's wife and send him to a wheelchair, the hero has to compromise his principles. He accepts the offer of a young businessman and allows himself to embed a special chip in his head, which should put Gray back on his feet. But only the chip named Stem (which, by the way, is quite reasonable and can even talk to the owner) is somewhat overfulfilled: Gray does not just start walking, and becomes a deadly ninja-killer. Having gained his new abilities, his first order of business is to go in search of his wife's killers.

Lee Wannell - the author, frankly speaking, ambiguous. For a long time he worked with James Wan, together with him created "Saw" and "Astral", from which then almost did not get out. His last notable appearance outside of these franchises was in 2014, when Wannell wrote the script for the comedy horror "Kutis", painfully disgusting movie, about which everyone has already safely forgotten. But after the third "Astral," his artless and pale directorial debut, Whannell abruptly changed his creative vector, traded James Wan for Jason Blum, and launched the sci-fi action movie "Upgrade." And it seems he's finally found his calling.

"Upgrade" - the cinematic counterpart of the program "Ochumelnye pens", where from garbage and other improvised materials you will make a bird feeder, and a vacuum cleaner, and even a nuclear warhead. Lee Whannell, with his secondary plot tropes and moves, has managed to put together a story that doesn't too often evoke a sense of deja vu.

On the surface here, it's once again a plot about revenge, evil corporations and conspiracy plots, but what's interesting is the way the director builds intrigue out of them. It's as if the movie is playing a perverted variation of chase: when you think you've figured out the next plot twist, it turns out that the twist wasn't a twist at all - there's another one behind it. Much more, let's say, pivotal.

Up to the time "Upgrade" shows itself a simple genre action movie: here we shoot, there we fight, bang, bang, pow, pow, everyone is happy. The plot and some kind of world disclosure in such conditions are perceived as a mere formality: we need some support for fights, and that will do. But the finale puts everything upside down - "Upgrade" has a double bottom, though not deep, but still a double bottom.

The movie in retrospect looks a little different, from cyberpunk "John Wick" turns into an exemplary story by Philip K. Dick. Dick. Only instead of self-exploration and philosophical reflections on the theme "Do they dream..." there is an inventive action. However, it is better - for the first we always have "Blade Runner", and in his territory Wannell reasonably did not get in.

In general, it's amazing how cool you can shoot action, if at least sometimes include imagination and go beyond the template "close-up, medium shot, the camera shook, and into the editing room. Naishuller came up with the idea of shooting action from the first person, but Wannell took a step to the side and fixed the focus of the camera on the hero. It's not a complicated technique, but it looks good - especially when it works for the story and the character.

The specific method of filming adds the necessary "artificiality" to the image and makes you believe that the actor is really controlled by a computer chip. However, this is not only a technical merit: without the stunning plastique of Logan Marshall-Green (by the way, so far his best role), the technique would not have worked.

The external ingenuity of the movie is not hindered neither by the obviously limited budget, nor by the modest scenery: "Upgrade" almost does not get out of dark corridors, warehouses, garages and basements. But the claustrophobic attacks, if anyone is threatened, it is only towards the end, when the movie is somewhat exhausted and the succession of narrow rooms begins to tire a little.

Wannell has an ace up his sleeve for moments like this, stashed away since "Saw". In "Upgrade" he doesn't shy away from diluting fights with scenes of almost exploitative violence - and unlike in "Saw", where the viewer quickly developed a tolerance for brains and guts flying everywhere, here it really hits a nerve.