By Robert Scucci
| Published
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of describing a movie as a cross between two other titles, but sometimes the best way to pique someone’s interest is to compare it to something they know. While 2018’s Upgrade stands on its own as a cyberpunk action film worth watching, I’ve told my friends that it boasts thematic elements similar to The Crow and RoboCop in the sense that a man is seeking revenge for the death of his wife, but his body is enhanced by cybernetics that help him get the job done after being left in a wheelchair due to a spinal injury. While this is indeed an apt comparison, Upgrade, like the STEM implant that takes over its protagonist’s state of being, takes on a life of its own and succesfully does its own thing despite its influences.
A Wrecked Body Primed For Revenge
Upgrade is set in the not-so-distant future, where technology has been utilized to its fullest extent for the sake of modern convenience, much to the chagrin of Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), an auto mechanic who likes working with his hands. Spending his days working on cars, Grey lives with his wife, Asha (Melanie Vallejo), who embraces any and all technology that the year 2046 has to offer, from her smart apartment to her self-driving car. Despite their clashing personalities, Grey and Asha have a loving relationship, which abruptly comes to an end when they’re ambushed, Asha is murdered, and Grey is left with a life-altering injury after a bullet severs his spinal cord.
Frustrated with the ongoing investigation surrounding his wife’s death, Grey has his doubts that the woman in charge of the case, Detective Cortez (Betty Gabriel), is going to bring Asha’s murders to justice. Wheelchair bound, and a shell of his former self, everything changes for Grey when he receives a phone call from one of his clients, Eron (Harrison Gilbertson), a leader in the tech space who has a new development, a microchip known as STEM. Agreeing to get the experimental microchip transplanted into his spinal cord, Grey gets the upgrade he needs to reclaim his physical faculties.
But There’s A Catch
Fully able to walk again as if he never had his accident in the first place, Grey has to keep his STEM upgrade a secret, as Eron forced him to sign a non-disclosure agreement. In other words, Grey has to maintain public appearances as a quadriplegic despite the fact that his physical body has been taken over by STEM, which allows him to freely walk, use his hands, and live a life without assistance. Taking Asha’s murder investigation into his own hands, Grey is surprised to find out that STEM has a voice, which proves to be quite helpful in tracking down and killing his attackers.
What’s more, Grey’s upgrade makes him a highly-efficient killing machine, and STEM even talks him through the required steps needed to cover his tracks when things get messy.
At first successfull in hiding his enhanced abilities from his mother and caretaker, Pamela (Linda Cropper), Grey isn’t so fortunate when it comes to Detective Cortez’s suspicions, as she has seen his wheelchair at various crime scenes that would implicate him in the revenge murders he’s carrying out. As STEM slowly takes control over Grey, who doesn’t necessarily approve of the microchip’s methods, Upgrade becomes a tense game of cat and mouse as Eron tries to deactivate the chip because Grey violated his confidentiality agreement, and Detective Cortez tries to apprehend Grey for taking matters into his own hands.
Streaming Upgrade On Netflix
Upgrade is an incredibly fun action movie thanks to Logan Marshall-Green’s performance as Grey, a man who has ongoing arguments with the computer that’s taking over his body. Living a double life that eventually catches up with him, Grey’s mannerisms and conversations with the voice inside of his head that only he can hear makes for some pretty hilarious moments in a film that otherwise plays it straight. Some of the best moments in Upgrade involve Grey wanting to handle a situation himself, finding himself compromised, and asking STEM to take over so his body can go on a rampage that he otherwise wouldn’t be able to execute, only to snap back to reality realizing what he had done.
While Upgrade can be seen as inspired by films like The Crow and RoboCop, it stands on its own as a badass cyberpunk action film about technology, the desire for revenge, and how these two things go hand-in-hand if you’re willing to suspend some disbelief for the sake of watching a ton of bodies hit the floor with style.
As of this writing, you can stream Upgrade on Netflix.