Review of Upgrade (2018) by Molly C — 31 May 2018

I went to see Upgrade because Leigh Whannell is one my favorite screenwriters and was kind of shocked when Asha, the protagonist's wife was killed off almost immediately (Before you freak out about spoilers, it's literally how the film is being advertised). I didn't think Leigh would do me dirty like that. But after watching the whole film through, I think he did a great job doing something new with this very tired trope. He also worked in a lot of great female characters and a super badass nonbinary coder.

Inclusivity and overused tropes aside, I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. Blumhouse is definitely onto something with their limited budget because the visuals and fight scenes were creative and like nothing I've seen before. Plot and story-wise, this is an exploration of the relationship between man and technology. When computers get to a certain point, what will be our use? What can they do better? What can we? It also deals with exploitation of the vulnerable and takes a second look at the concept of revenge.

Definitely worth a trip to the theater. An excellent original scifi thriller on a limited budget amongst a sea of $400 million super hero and reboot films.