UPGRADE MOVIE REVIEW

Genre: Sci-Fi, action

Produced: 2018

Director: Leigh Whannell

Stars: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Linda Cropper

Film Summary: With his wife, brutally Grey Trace, who was attacked, was paralyzed from the waist down as well as losing his wife in the attack. One day, a billionaire receives an offer from an inventor to an experimental treatment that will improve his body. For treatment, an artificial intelligence implant called STEM is placed in Trace's body. Having gained superhuman abilities with the treatment, Trace sets out to take revenge on the people who killed his wife and ruined his own life...

The theme of the movie is... Cyberpunk, a science-fiction classic...

In the subject revolving around Gray Trace in the lead role, we see the transformed human theme that we have been encountering for many years. Human transformation is seen after a company priority implants a chip called STEM. As a result of such films, we experience the fear that one day technology will take over us. The human-machine conflict has been highlighted. With the STEM chip, as always thought, a superior person tries to be created and as a result, things get messy again. We see in the movies before, that artificial intelligence is finally defeated. What catches my attention in the movie is the loss of humanity at the end. The director thinks we can't win this war, which I agree with. There are two interconnected transformations that we watch in the movie. First of all, we see the evolution of the human being in the theme into a human-machine mixture, and then the machine's transformation into a human by taking full control of the machine. This transformation is described in gray. As a result, he is actually a soft, emotional and fearful individual. We watch him lose control with artificial intelligence and turn into a tough and criminal person. While this is happening, a subject that is actually imposed on us from the subtext is "if they kill your wife, you can kill people to avenge her". Because while watching the movie, Gray kills people, breaks into the house, damages government property, but we understand all of them. The director gives us Gray so pathetically we experience catharsis with him. But how true is the subtext and catharsis that is imposed on us. It is discussed.

The Simulation he created, lost in time and space…

First of all, the thing that caught my attention is that the film does not tell us 100 years from now. There is a modern day simulation. It uses the data of the current reality. Many things are familiar. In addition to these, there is a science that circulates within the limits of foreseen technology. It indicates a near future. Even though it's an Australian movie, we see the Hollywood influence. The movie is a typical American city. Namely, when the movie starts, Gray sips a beer while fixing a 90's American car in his garage. A punk song plays in the background. Even this describes a classic American man. Houses, cars, city arrangements are very similar to the present. Again, we do not see the state structure in the film. There is no just world. Power is again shown as a secret company. The company is in a stronger position than the state with the technology it has developed. The point it has reached is far from legality. Although the frequency of police drones shows that security has increased, criminals are still not easily found. In the scene where the car crashes, the poor are on the other side of the street by the fire, which shows that there is still economic weakness and stratification. Of course, the wealthy, I can say the same for our leading family, they have slightly different opportunities. They have a pilotless vehicle and technologies such as the projection of the computer system on the table. The places in which the film takes place are gloomy and dark enough in accordance with the subject. With its dominance of technology, the overall tone color of the film actually hovers between blue and black. Pale colors are used. This shows that the compositional feature of the color comes to the fore, and that the color used is not just the form, but is prepared by establishing a direct relationship with the content.

The war of analog and digital…

It is this conflict that is the problem that the director puts forth in the film. At the point reached in the movie, it is the situation that the couple lives in. To give an example, shall we have Pizza in a Gray movie? But his wife says, shall we have pizza? der. His wife drives everywhere in her driverless car and doesn't understand Grey's passion for the old car, making fun of him. Gray enjoys them and is actually in love with the conditions we live in now. We feel this conflict in the movie. The director has shown that in the end of this conflict, digital will win, but it will not end well.

Three scoops of Sci-Fi, A dash of action…

Let's talk about the sci-fi features in the movie. There is a huge cypberpunk story before our eyes. In other words, making a human-robot mixture by inserting a chip, its fear of taking over the world directly confronts us. The human eye is loaded with more tasks than it can do. For example, the eye can see behind the wall. The guns are located on the arms. Seeing what that person sees by putting the finger in the eye is another science fiction feature of the movie that draws my attention, which I rarely come across. Another point that draws my attention is "siri". Although Siri is inside our phones and in our lives, it evokes something else in the movie. The couple communicates with someone with a siri voice as if there is a maid in the house. It gives information, dominates the life of its owners. Actually, although this is a science-fiction example, the reason why it attracts my attention more is similar to the siri voice. Accordingly, at the beginning of the movie, this sound is used when introducing the production and distribution companies. The director wanted to tell from the first second that these events are very close to the present day. It has caught our attention.

The moment when I get out of the movie and become alienated... The alienation effect...

The movie continues as usual. As the conflicts started to break out in the movie, I got into it even more. In one scene, our main character Gray gave his body control to a chip called STEM. The director has also changed the camera movements in order to show this difference. We felt like robots with the camera sharpening and making unusual movements. Even though I thought it was good for the movie, the sudden transition made me wake up. I think the sharp transition there made us shake and reminded us that we watched a movie.

A look at the cinematographic features…

I think it is appropriately used for a movie with pale colors, weakness of light, gloomy dark environment technology used. The music, or rather the sounds used, are more powerful and unfeeling. We cannot make emotions out of sounds. This actually gives the emotionlessness that technology reflects. I have to say this about camera movements. In a fight scene and in scenes where Gray gradually gets used to Stem, he suddenly became aware of the sharp movements shown by the camera and away from human movements. It felt like a robot even though I knew it was unreal. I must say the editing is pretty good too. However, the film has some shortcomings in terms of the script. It is a successful film in the name of Science Fiction. However, contrary to the interestingness of the subject it deals with, the fact that the movie becomes more and more ordinary and turns into an action movie makes it like every movie. The last scene takes the movie a few steps ahead. The final scene leaves UPGRADE a must-watch for ordinary and science fiction, stuck between its distinction.