Movie · 2018 · Action, Thriller, Science Fiction · 1h 40m · R · English
Curator score: 6.1/10 (527.5K ratings)
Not man. Not machine. More.
Overview
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Melanie Vallejo, Benedict Hardie, Linda Cropper, Simon Maiden, Steve Danielsen, Richard Cawthorne, Christopher Kirby, Abby Craden, Richard Anastasios, Kenny Low, Emily Havea, Ming-Zhu Hii, Stephanie Demkiw, Manjot Jassal, Esther Joseph, Sachin Joab, Matt Davis
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A lean, nasty, high-concept revenge thriller with inventive action, strong visual control, and a gleefully mean streak. It’s not subtle, but it is sharply made and consistently entertaining.
Best for
fans of brutal sci-fi action
viewers who like revenge stories with a dark twist
people who enjoy clever low-budget genre filmmaking
audiences who want kinetic, camera-driven fight scenes
Skip if
you want a warm or uplifting story
you dislike stylized violence and gore
you need airtight world-building over momentum
flashy camerawork and pulpy dialogue annoy you
Overview
Upgrade is the kind of genre movie that feels like it was built in a lab to hit a very specific sweet spot: grimy near-future sci-fi, revenge fantasy, and extremely efficient action. It takes a familiar setup and pushes it into something nastier and more playful than expected, with a central gimmick that keeps paying off in fresh ways.
Worth noting
What stands out most is the filmmaking. The action is staged with real invention, and the camera often becomes part of the violence rather than just recording it. The movie’s low-budget limitations are visible, but they also give it a scrappy energy that suits the material.
Bottom line
It’s also a pretty cynical piece of work, in a way that some viewers will find exhilarating and others exhausting. The emotional beats are thin on purpose, but the movie knows exactly what kind of engine it is: a revenge machine with a black sense of humor and a mean streak that never lets up.
Top Letterboxd reviews
mary🦋 (3.5★) · 2606 likes
Imagine if ratatouille was all neon and remy went full-on john wick mode and picked some sexy mechanic version of linguini
Sean Baker · 2332 likes
2001 meets Robocop meets The Crow meets Blade Runner meets Her meets Death Wish meets Minority Report. And that's a major compliment. Leigh Whannell kicks ass with this one. Really impressive set pieces and a narrative that doesn't take itself so seriously yet is complex, funny and is constantly delivering.
So fun. See it in the theater with a crowd.
There must be some legal reason why this isn't called Stem.
Watched at AMC Sunset 5
Lucy (3★) · 1755 likes
a little cheesy sometimes, but i did really get a kick out of this. the camerawork in the action scenes alone make it worthwhile. i do have something to say however, and i don’t know where else to put these thoughts, so it’s gonna have to be here:
hollywood and the media in general has such an obsession with stories about disabled people becoming able bodied again. through science or even a miracle, rarely are physically disabled characters given spotlight… more
Eli Hayes (4.5★) · 1295 likes
Goddamn. The writing, the direction, the performances, the action & cinematography(!), the editing, the score; holy shit. This is easily the best thing that Leigh Whannell has ever been a part of - better than Saw, better than the very undervalued Dead Silence, even better than Insidious... all three of which I'm a big fan. One of the darkest and most nihilistic films I've seen in some time (fuck, that ending). The formal precision and emotional weight elevate it above its more pulpy, b-aspects, into a poignantly complex and morally intricate piece of cinematic cynicism.