Leigh Whannell should be a familiar name for anyone who’s being following horror cinema this century, as co-creator (hand in hand with James Wan) of two of the genre’s most popular and profitable franchises of the past fifteen years: Saw, and Insidious. Yet while Whannell’s work is known for making money, this hasn’t necessarily equated to real kudos, as his mass-appeal movies haven’t always been met with approval from serious-minded fans and critics. As such, we can be forgiven for not having seen Upgrade coming. Third round in the director’s chair for the Australian screenwriter and actor (not that he takes an on-camera role here), the film also sees Whannell side-step horror territory for science fiction action thriller terrain, still with a distinctly dark tint. The resulting film may have flown under the radar somewhat from a mainstream perspective (it certainly hasn’t been a Saw/Insidious-sized moneymaker, and doesn’t look likely to spawn a franchise), but it’s certainly the most entertaining, compelling and well-rounded work Whannel has put his name to yet, and has quite rightly earned him the best reviews of his career.
Set at an unspecified date in a not-too distant future, computer assistance in daily life has reached unprecedented levels, with software systems organising our households, driving our cars and way more besides. In this age of technological revolution, Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is an unabashed Luddite. A mechanic who specialises in customising vintage muscle cars, Grey prides himself on doing as much as he can with his own two hands, even though his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) works for a major tech company – the salary from which, we can safely assume, pays for a lot more of their lavish lifestyle than Grey’s auto work, even if he caters to such an elite clientele as reclusive tech billionaire Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson). But after their self-driving car mysteriously malfunctions, taking them way off course and into the path of a brutal criminal gang, Grey finds himself a quadriplegic widower, almost entirely dependent on technology to survive, not that he finds himself with a great deal left to live for.
However, Keen approaches Grey with one of those offers that can’t be refused: the chance to be able-bodied again via the spinal implant of an experimental, cutting edge microchip named Stem. The procedure is a total success, but due to its top secret and less-than legal nature, Grey happily signs all manner of non-disclosure agreements, feigning to the world at large that he remains a quadriplegic. However, once he’s back home and getting used to being back on his feet, Grey discovers to his considerable shock that, on top of everything else, Stem can literally talk to him and take control of his physical functions, and is able to help him track down and take revenge on the men who killed his wife.
It’s certainly no accident that the essential premise – man left for dead is revived by technological means, and uses his new-found power for vengeance – is evocative of RoboCop. In the extras on this Second Sight Blu-ray edition, Whannell readily cites that film along with The Terminator and the works of David Cronenberg as key influences on Upgrade, and these are very much in evidence. Even so, while there’s an 80s vibe to the premise, the realisation is very much of its time. As a Blumhouse production, the film stays within that company’s usual low budget MO, so we naturally we don’t have a lavish, FX heavy vision of the future here; while it’s not quite the world as we know it in 2019, it isn’t too far removed, and in its presentation of lavish digitally-assisted playhouses for the rich, it’s close to the world Alex Garland showed us in Ex Machina.
Small scale though Upgrade might be, it marks a significant step up for Whannell as a director, as he proves surprisingly adept and imaginative at staging action scenes. It obviously doesn’t hurt that Logan Marshall-Green also proves to be a dab hand in this department, on top of having serious leading man chops, and it seems safe to assume this film will prove a major calling card for its leading man as well as its writer-director. With the camera work kept close and minimal stunt doubling, Marshall-Green has the daunting task of both pulling off expertly choreographed fight scenes, but also looking like he isn’t in control of his own body in the process. It’s a very distinctive style that doesn’t quite feel like any other action movie, which will doubtless go a long way to making Upgrade a popular choice for repeat viewing among action fans, not least because of a number of extravagant, crowd-pleasing finishing moves. Happily though, Whannell and company aren’t content to just make this a standard one-note revenge movie with a futuristic tinge, and the film makes a point of delving into the kind of big ideas and daunting questions that define science fiction at its best. Even more happily, at the hands of a distinctly above-average cast (mostly Australian as the film was shot in Melbourne), Upgrade delivers all this with heavy overtones of dark humour and raw emotion which make the whole thing that bit more human.
At the time of writing, the trailer for Whannell’s next movie – a new take on The Invisible Man for Universal, again with Blumhouse producing – has not long since premiered to a wave of excitement. I daresay this buzz is less to do with the feeling that Universal just might finally have figured out how to successfully revive their classic horror properties (although that’s clearly a factor), than it is to do with excitement over the vision of a filmmaker who, it seems, has announced himself as a force to be reckoned with. It’s not a status I ever envisaged Leigh Whannell attaining, but off the back of Upgrade he just might have established himself as one of the most exciting genre filmmakers of our time, and I look forward to seeing if he can keep this winning streak going.
Upgrade is released to limited edition Blu-ray on 18th November, from Second Sight.