Andrew Baron-Vartian

Watching Upgrade was an incredibly frustrating experience. On one hand it is an interesting original concept that is well shot, well designed and has well-crafted action throughout to keep you entertained. Unfortunately, the sometimes awful writing is only upstaged by its dreadful acting. Logan Marshall-Green plays our protagonist by doing his best Tom Hardy impression throughout the entire film. To be fair he’s not awful just incredibly mediocre. It is his surrounding cast that ruin the film, they pull me out of every scene.

Majority of Upgrade‘s flaws have to fall upon the writer/director, Leigh Whannell. An interesting concept can only get you so far, you need some substance, some strong character development, maybe good dialogue? I feel like I’m not asking for much here. We are primarily with one character throughout the entire film, it’s a wasted opportunity to not give him more depth. The dialogue, alongside the rigid acting really felt just so clunky and amateurish. Thankfully the action is well crafted with excellent practical effects. This is where cinematography really stood out the most. The camera movements were very refreshing to experience. The best thing I can say about Upgrade is the plot and action are interesting enough enjoy the watch; the worst thing I can say is I sincerely felt like I was watching a bad Sci-Fi channel movie with a couple extra zeros attached to the budget.

Writing: 4/10

Direction: 6/10

Cinematography: 8/10

Acting: 3/10

Editing: 8/10

Sound: 8/10

Score/Soundtrack: 6/10

Production Design: 8/10

Casting: 2/10

Effects: 9/10

Overall Score: 6.2/10