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Sell Me... Upgrade (2018)
73 Plays6 months ago
Hunter and Ashlee will be doing another mini-episode with Ashlee selling you... Upgrade (2018)!
As always, please reach out and let us know your thoughts at: @hazardousopinionspod or hazardousopinionspod@gmail.com and chat with us on Discord! If you love movies, add us on Letterboxd! Andy - Eric - Hunter - Ashlee.
Please send us your movie recommendations or suggestions for discussion topics. For our next episode, Ashlee and Hunter will be discussing American Ultra (2015)! Watch ahead and then tune in to hear our thoughts. Stay safe, we love y'all!
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Transcript
Upcoming Episode Preview: American Ultra
00:00:12
Speaker
you Welcome back to the pod, Sasha here, and we're gonna do another mini episode for you guys, um but I just wanted to touch base that our next episode after this will be on American Ultra, so if you want to get that watched before the pod comes out, to know what's going on, you sure can. ah Yeah, just make sure to follow the pod on our socials, and you can find the links to those in our episode description. But anyways, yeah, thanks for listening, and let's get into it.
Lee Whannell's Career Overview
00:00:44
Speaker
So, for my mini episode today, I am picking one of my all-time favorite movies that flew almost completely under the radar, which is Lee Whannell's Upgrade, which was released by Blumhouse in 2018. And real quick, just a background on Lee Whannell. He probably recognized him from Saw 2004. He's the one who cuts off his leg at the end. And he also wrote the Insidious movies and Dead Silence.
00:01:09
Speaker
and And one of his, so he obviously has like the horror element, but another one that he did that was really good that's closer to this one was ah The Invisible Man ah from 2020, and I'll mention that again later, I'm sure.
Upgrade: Plot Introduction
00:01:21
Speaker
But Upgrade is set like 30 years into the future or so, and we ah meet our main character, Gray, who's played by Logan Marshall Green, who probably recognized from Devil, and he's one of the main characters in Prometheus. ah Love him in that one, and him in general.
00:01:38
Speaker
But and he's not I didn't really recognize that many other people in the movie um From anything else mostly Logan Marshall Green, which is good enough for me when the movie starts um We learn it's like 30 years and so to the future. So it's pretty Not super futuristic, but there's definitely some technology advancements But we are were introduced to Gray and his wife. We can tell right away that even though it's in the near future, we could tell that Gray um couldn't be less interested in the technological advancements that are present now. um But his wife, Asha, is a higher up at a tech company. And they are visiting with a tech guru named Aaron, E-R-O-N, which is one letter off from Elon. So do with that what you will.
00:02:27
Speaker
and that's not that far into the plot at the moment but on their way home from there in their uh cyber truck which is you know do with that which you will as well um it malfunctions on their way home and drives them into a neighborhood yeah pretty much causes the car to crash and that's where gray's life is like changed forever and he's left a quadriplegic and ash is no longer in his life but i'm not gonna say what happens i'm gonna make you watch it to find that out. So we'll cut a little ahead.
Upgrade: Tech Twist
00:03:01
Speaker
Not much time has passed but Gray's in the hospital with no working limbs and he's approached by Aaron who proposes an experimental chip that ah he's claiming can pretty much fix Gray's issue and cause him to have a full functioning body again and he wants to test it out to see how well it works but also so Gray can
00:03:26
Speaker
Find out who took his wife from him I won't go too much into detail about stem because that's one of the fun twists, but it's definitely not what it seems Okay, and I know that sounds like every other run-of-the-mill action movie plot ever but this one is so different as such like a fun sci-fi twist and I The world that Lee Whannell created for this movie is like so top-notch.
Upgrade: Technical Acclaim
00:03:54
Speaker
It's so colorful and vibrant. um The fight choreography is so perfect.
00:04:04
Speaker
It's even like, and I love John Wick movies obviously, but even this is like different. um With the horror element into it and the sci-fi, there's such brutal death scenes and then the fight choreography is just like, I don't even have words. And there is CGI in it, but it's super well done CGI. Like you don't even notice it or think about it. And especially with the budget of for only $5 million, dollars it does not look like it. It looks like such a like big budget movie.
00:04:32
Speaker
and the CGI is not even mostly in like the the death scenes it's in other parts of the world but I just wanted to throw that out there I'm picky when it comes to like fighting like action movies but this one is so bloody and brutal and fun that we can put those words together um oh and another thing i and to mention is the sound design in this is so perfect and When I watch it I just like kind of like think of it as like a character itself if that makes sense because it's so like integral to like the story and Helps with the storytelling a lot ah And I just I just really love that part of it as well But yeah, it's just like so incredibly well produced and the acting is so good Logan Roswell Green gives such a good performance There's some great lines and some really funny lines as well as some good humor in it It's just really well paced to it brings me into right away. It's only like an hour and 40 minutes or so so I Yeah, and it just flows perfectly into an ending that is unlike any other ending I've like seen. It's not what you'd expect, and it's just so perfect. but um it And the ending really makes this movie stand out against any other thing, at least that I've seen. So it's like really special
Upgrade: Viewing Recommendation
00:05:46
Speaker
to me.
00:05:46
Speaker
but yeah when i first saw this like i said i had zero expectations didn't watch the trailer then please don't watch the trailer if you're thinking of watching this because it gives away so much and it gives away the twist and i just avoid trailers like the plague anyways because if you i'm just like more pleasantly surprised if you know nothing going into intend to enjoy movies more that way in my opinion but yeah just ah ever since i've seen this i've been telling everybody and anyone to watch this except it's not been streaming anywhere like ever but i finally added it to netflix which is why i wanted to recommend it to you guys you can finally watch it and i know i have some friends in canada who listen as well and i don't know about canadian netflix but you can rent it for cheap on amazon prime for like less than five dollars so
00:06:30
Speaker
if you can't find it if you don't have netflix you can do that yeah oh i just wanted to add as well uh my boyfriend ryan is like the biggest action movie hater ever he doesn't even like john winch which is so annoying he won't even watch him but i showed him upgrade and he loved this one he thought the story was good he thought the acting was good he was like so invested and actually paid attention to it and that is like really saying something so if you're iffy on those ones as well like i assure you will enjoy this one but Now I'm going to talk about some of the movies this reminds me of, and um The Invisible Man, obviously, you're also directed by Lee Whannell, John Wick and, well, the John Wick franchise, I should say, and one of my favorite movies of 2024, which is Monkey Man.
00:07:16
Speaker
which
Comparative Analysis: Movies and AI
00:07:17
Speaker
hunter is here with me and he pointed out that the upgrade poster and monkey man have very similar posters which i love. ah this one's a little bit ah of a different genre but it still is revenge one which is promising young women which still has like similar color stories the vibrancy of it and yeah I just want to throw that in there because I that's also another one and I don't think too many people have seen but I know there's not much I can really say about ah the plot of a revenge movie to differentiate aside from subtle differences but
00:07:50
Speaker
But some of the elements I look for in action movies, or just movies in general, I suppose, but for this instance, the fight choreography, the fast-pacedness, the colors, the cinematography. So, I mean, if any of those elements are something you're also interested in, even just one of them, or none of them, you'll still love this movie. I'm sure of it because it's so good and entertaining.
00:08:11
Speaker
Oh, the AI thing. And um yeah, just i have one more thing in my notes that I forgot to mention earlier. um Another little reason why I wanted to recommend this one is because it is without giving much away in artificial intelligence themed movie. um And with that being so prevalent right now in the world. Yeah, it's just it's just fun to watch and you could see potentially where things could go in the future. Just kidding. But But no, it's just yeah it was just something I wanted to throw in there.
Upgrade: Final Thoughts
00:08:42
Speaker
But ah yeah, I think that's pretty much most of the things I want to say, I think, on upgrade. And yeah, it's really honestly such a treat to watch. And again, you know, the less, you know, going into it, the better. Yeah, I think that's.
00:08:59
Speaker
but yeah anyways guys i think that's pretty much all i have to say on upgrade and this reminder is on netflix and if you don't have netflix you can rent it for less than five dollars on prime or wherever you can rent movies and like i said the less you know going into it the better um at least in my opinion so just keep that in mind and yeah I think that's a wrap and hopefully I was able to sell you guys upgrade.
Conclusion and Reminders
00:09:24
Speaker
Thank you for listening and remember our next episode will be on American Ultra. I'm not sure when the episode will come out but uh yeah just keep your eyes open for that turn on the notification bell that kind of thing or oh I don't think anyone uses that. Okay well uh bye everybody and thank you for listening and we'll catch you on the next one. Bye!