Budgetary constraints don’t hold back the film’s sheer pleasures, it was made at a ridiculously slim cost ($3M). Whannell proves to be a minor visionary with big ideas. His warnings about tech and its dangers are alarmingly scathing. It’s no surprise then to find that this talented writer-director also penned the screenplays for both “Saw” and “Insidious,” horror films with a lot more on their minds than just laying down typical genre-exercises. “Upgrade” doesn’t always transcend its B-movie schlockiness, but that’s part of its endless charms. It knows exactly what it wants to be and Whannell’s deeply ingrained barrage of wide shots, passionately delivered via Stefan Duscio’s well-honed lenses, deliver what fans of the genre truly want. However, what, surprisingly, makes the film resonate, what makes it stick its landing, as they say, isn’t just its uprooted cinematic cojones, but rather its surprising last-minute revelations, intellectual condemnations of a future not too far ahead of us which give the film some extra pounds of meat – to be seriously absorbed, and pondered as more than just mere brain candy. [B/B+] “Upgrade” is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD. Contribute Hire me
Advertise Donate Team Contact Privacy Policy
