Upgrade (2018)

It's like if Black Mirror did a take on RoboCop, sorta.

The Cold Open

So some time has passed since my initial post announcing this project and what you are (hopefully) reading now. I had sat down to write the initial post a few weeks ago but a head cold started to brew and with a trip to Italy just on the horizon, I decided to focus on ridding myself of the sickness so that I could enjoy all the pasta and pizza in my near future.

I successfully outed that pesky cold and Italy was amazing! Now we are back to our regularly scheduled lives and with that I am penning my first official post. It’s kind of scary (har har) to do this because now this is even more real than before. At first it was just an announcement of something I planned to do, with no firm promise of a first post. But now this is happening.

I’m committing to making myself sit down and write something once a week, hopefully for a some sort of audience; possibly just for myself. Regardless of who finds their way here, I need an outlet for my creativity and writing has always been something I wanted to do but never h̶a̶d̶ made the time.

I hope you (whoever you are) enjoy reading this and stick around for what is to come. I promise it will at least be interesting!

The Set Up

I first saw a preview for Upgrade on YouTube a few days before it came out. Before that I had not heard about or seen anything to do with this movie. What caught my attention and earned that ever-so-sought-after click was the star of the film, Logan Marshall-Green.

I’ve been a huge fan of this guy ever since I saw him in Prometheus and couldn’t get over how much he looks like great value Tom Hardy. Seriously, the dude looks like Tom freaking Hardy… A lot! If you are a Marvel fan, you may recognize him as the first electric glove wielding henchman (a nod to Shocker) in Spiderman: Homecoming that gets vaporized by Michael Keaton’s character, Adrian Toomes.

I’ve since watched him in a now-canceled (sadly) show on Cinemax called Quarry as well as a few other films, including one I am sure I will write about eventually called The Invitation. My point is, I’m a fan of Logan Marshall-Green.

The preview was great and did a fine job of setting up the film’s premise which then intrigued me enough to purchase tickets a few days later and go see it. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. I believe I turned to my wife, who does not watch horror movies at all but was intrigued by this premise enough to join me, and said “That was better than it had any right to be!” and she agreed.

I realize that statement reads as a little harsh, but I typically reserve that phrase for movies that have a so-so premise and turn out to subvert my expectations enough that walk out with a smile and think about the movie for days afterwards. This was no exception.

The Movie

Upgrade is set in the near-future and tells the story of Grey Trace, an analog man in a digital world. (I hate myself for penning that sentence, but it’s quite accurate.) Grey makes his living restoring “old” cars for people who can afford the luxury. In this future of self-driving cars, manual cars are hard to find and fetch a pretty price it would appear. It seems to be Grey’s only source of income so it must pay well.

He is more or less a Luddite, choosing to do things with his hands whenever possible instead of letting a machine do it for him; actively resisting the technological changes happening all around him.

We get a glimpse into his life, work, and family (he’s married, no children) within the first 10-15 minutes of the film. They do a great job of introducing you to the protagonist and letting you understand what makes him tick so that you can then understand the main plot device of the film.

I won’t write an entire recap of the film, but I do need to give you the quick and dirty summary of the plot so you can decide whether or not you want to see this for yourself. Sound good?

Grey and his wife get into a car accident after their self-driving car malfunctions. A group of men get out of a car and drag Grey and his wife Asha out of the car under the guise of helping, but instead murder Asha and shoot Grey, leaving him for dead. He wakes up a quadriplegic and we get a short glimpse into his new life and his struggles adjusting.

Some things happen and he is approached by a former client, a tech mogul, who offers him an experimental chip that will bridge the gap between his brain and severed spinal cord. He eventually accepts and here is where the movie kicks off.

The implant is called STEM and is more or less an AI, not unlike Alexa or Siri if either of those could also restore the use of limbs to paraplegics. It even talks to Grey within his mind. From here the movie goes down the path of Grey tracking down his wife’s killers on his own with the help of STEM, slowly giving the AI permission to take full control of his body at various points when the situation gets out of hand.

You can see where this is going, but I promise you that the ending still manages to surprise you enough that you’ll turn the movie off intrigued and left thinking about the possibilities.

The Scary Stuff

At this point you are probably asking yourself “isn’t this a horror movie newsletter? what is scary about this premise? How is this horror? Where are the ghosts or demons or monsters?”

I’ll admit this might seem like it’s much more sci-fi than horror and you aren’t wrong, but there are still some haunting things that take place and scary themes that the film leaves you to ponder.

What would you do if tragedy befell you in a way that left you paralyzed and someone offered you an AI chip that could restore your body, even enhance it? Then what if that chip could give you an advantage on say, your job or a sport or anything really? What if that chip could make you the best ____ at whatever you were most interested in being, for just a little more control over your body in return? At what point does that become a problem?

I think is scary or disturbing about this movie is the idea that technology can be a slippery slope. I promise I am not one of those people who hates the idea of having an Alexa tower or smart lock or connected home. I am actually all for it. Hell, if tomorrow they announced some sort of implantable phone that goes in your wrist (I’m looking at you 2012’s Total Recall) I’d be the first one to sign up.

But that also scares me because the repercussions/consequences of something like that are probably limitless, as are the benefits. In my opinion, this movie does a good job of showcasing the terrifying beauty of technology and it’s potential futures.

Elevator Pitch

A movie about a guy who gets paralyzed after his wife is murdered, gets a computer chip implanted in his brain that helps him walk again and fight and all sorts of cool stuff, is chased by people with guns implanted in their arms (yupppppp it’s awesome) and other neat implants, and slowly loses his humanity without realizing it.

End Credits

If you made it this far, you’re either a fan or a glutton for punishment. Either way you are most certainly welcome here and your time is appreciated. Thanks for joining me for the first post and I hope you stick around for another one next week. I’m not sure what we are watching yet, but it is Austin’s week to pick since I chose Upgrade as mine this week.

My apologies if the post was a little long. I’ll be dialing in the format and whatnot over the next few posts and I ask for patience as I figure that out. Some weeks will probably be shorter or longer than others, depending on my feelings about the movie that week. I’d love to hear any thoughts or opinions you may have on these as well! Thanks for joining me and until next time, have a great week!

Stinger

What’s your comfort level when it comes to integrating technology into your home and/or life?