Review of Upgrade (2018) by Unmerciful_1 — 04 Jun 2018

Have you even wondered what James O'Barr's "The Crow" would be like if it traded in it's gothic poerty for a copy of William Gibson's Neuromancer? In my opinion it would be Leigh Whannell's UPGRADE.

While the first 15 minutes of the movies slow pace and seemingly scattershot plot points may have you running for the door, those that stick with the film are rewarded with a visually striking film that carefully balances a timely socially conscious cyber punk narrative with a gritty tale of revenge.

At the heart of the film is a debate about what we're willing to give up as a society for the coveinence afforded to us by articficial inteligence. Our present see's us concerned how much personal privacy we're willing to exchange for the convenience of gps guidance, social networking, predictive texting, and automated scheduling.

Upgrade's future asks what paraplegic Grey Trace might have to sacrifice to an AI for a functional body, and a chance for revenge. His Privacy? Almost certainly. His humanity and free will? Quite possibly.