This movie took sci-fi horror and gave it an Upgrade

Let me just start off by saying I'm not a huge fan of horror. I don't like axe wielding psychopaths, I abhor (pun intended) the supernatural, and I do not, under any circumstances, appreciate the absolute terror of a jumpscare. This movie, however, surprised me. Not only was it a gory body horror movie, but it was also a twist filled sci fi adventure, that gave the perfect blend of cinematography and storytelling. I am proud to firmly place this film in the upper echelon of the Good Good category.

Upgrade tells the story of one Grey Trace. He is a stay at home mechanic, fixing up old muscle cars in the new and improved technologically advanced future. His wife Asha, works for a tech firm. The story begins with Grey delivering a muscle car to a prominent tech company head executive, a rival of Asha's company. While in the executive's home, they are introduced to STEM, a microchip that can process any task handed to it. Grey is unimpressed, firmly anti-tech and pro human work, dismissing the power and capabilities of STEM. On their way home, their automatic, self driving car malfunctions, and overturns. A group of men appear and shoot Asha in the chest, and Grey in the neck, severing his spinal cord and forcing him to watch his wife bleed out next to him, unable to do anything. He is confined to a wheelchair, and develops severe depression. After an attempted suicide by overdose, the tech head visits him in the hospital, and offers to implant STEM into his spine, giving him full motor control back. Grey takes the opportunity, and slowly regains full control on the promise of pretending to be paraplegic in public, as not to expose STEM to the world prematurely. STEM reveals it can talk to Grey, and offers to help him find the people who killed his wife. After tracking down and gruesomely killing some of the men, the tech head threatens to shut down STEM, rendering Grey a paraplegic again. To prevent this, Grey goes to a hacker who removes the input guard of STEM, giving Grey control again. After killing the remaining murderers, Grey goes home to rest, where he sees his mother, who is shocked that he can stand. After explaining STEM, he tells her to keep quiet. STEM then reveals that without the input guards, it can cause Grey's body to move, even against his will. They then storm the house of the tech exec, who reveals that STEM orchestrated all the events, from the car crash to the input guards, to get access to Grey's body, which is untouched by technological modifications. After struggling with STEM, Grey wrestles enough control to put a gun to his head. He wakes up in a hospital bedroom, with Asha sitting next to him, saying he has been unconscious since the car crash. In the real world, STEM explains through Grey that he broke Grey's mind with exhaustion and sleeplessness, giving STEM full control. When told to "snap out of it", he responds with "Grey's not here right now", shoots the police officer present, and leaves.

This movie is a perfect use of story, with a grand and fantastic twist coming at the very end, and a compelling narrative that invests you in the characters throughout. The color scheme is fantastically executed, the world well developed, and the acting fantastic. Logan Marshal-Green performs beautifully, and convinces us that his path to righteousness is one that can be easily followed. The story convinces us to follow it up until the very end, and then throws our trust back in our faces. This excellent use of story and evolution of conflict makes this movie an absolute marvel. The way the story progresses is a bit slow, but when the action hits, oh boy does it hit. It puts together all the best of an action film, combined with the gore of a proper horror film. This fantastic combination of three genres makes this movie an one-of-a-kind exceptional thrill ride. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone with a steel stomach and an iron constitution. This movie is an absolute masterpiece by any regard.