• ⇤
• ⇽
• ≡
• ⇾
• ⇥

movie review - Upgrade

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

This is a near-future science fiction piece in which a car mechanic who loses his wife and the use of his limbs in an assault after his automated car crashes. He's convinced by an Elon Musk type to use experimental cybernetic implants to regain full use of his body. The mechanic agrees and it works. But only when the system is running - and crucially, under the mechanic's control. Because it's experimental, the Musk analog says that our hero must not reveal his situation to the world, so he remains wheelchair-bound.

Of course, the cybernetic system is self-aware and contacts the mechanic with an offer to obtain justice for the murder of his wife. And it's at this point that the movie starts to explore new ground as we have at least three players who partially control our protagonist's body: the mechanic, the Musk chap, and the system. The pursuit of "justice" starts getting bloody and also starts to raise a whole bunch of questions, as it turns out that the assailants were similarly "upgraded".

It took me a couple of tries to get into this thing but it was worth the attempt.

Recommended.