Upgrade
2018 · Directed by Leigh Whannell
Woke Score
CriticCritic Score
Audience
Ultra Based
Critics rated this 63 points above its woke score. Among Ultra Based films, this critic score ranks #704 of 1469.
Representation Casting
Score: 25/100
The cast includes actors of color in supporting roles, but their presence feels incidental to the narrative rather than intentional. No particular attention is paid to representation as a meaningful element of the film's world.
LGBTQ+ Themes
Score: 0/100
No LGBTQ+ themes, characters, or representation are present in the film. The protagonist's relationship is heterosexual and conventionally structured.
Feminist Agenda
Score: 5/100
The protagonist's wife is killed in the opening sequence, functioning as motivation for the male protagonist's revenge arc. Female characters are largely passive or absent from the narrative.
Racial Consciousness
Score: 10/100
While the film features a diverse cast, there is no engagement with racial themes or systemic racism. The street crime that catalyzes the plot exists outside any racial or socioeconomic context.
Climate Crusade
Score: 0/100
No climate or environmental themes are present in the film.
Eat the Rich
Score: 15/100
The billionaire inventor provides the technological solution with minimal moral questioning, though the film does present some skepticism toward corporate technology and surveillance.
Body Positivity
Score: 5/100
Disability is treated as a problem requiring technological correction rather than a condition worthy of acceptance or adaptation. The narrative celebrates the protagonist's return to able-bodiedness.
Neurodivergence
Score: 0/100
No neurodivergence representation or themes are present in the film.
Revisionist History
Score: 0/100
The film contains no historical elements or revisionist historical narratives.
Lecture Energy
Score: 0/100
The film makes no attempt to educate or lecture its audience about social issues. It remains content within its genre conventions.
Synopsis
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
Consciousness Assessment
Upgrade presents itself as a sleek techno-thriller, concerned primarily with the spectacle of a man learning to move again through artificial means and the satisfying mechanics of revenge. The film's engagement with progressive sensibilities remains incidental at best, a surface-level acknowledgment that disability exists rather than a meaningful interrogation of it. Grey Trace's paralysis functions as plot device, a problem to be solved through technological enhancement rather than a condition worthy of genuine dramatic weight. The revenge narrative overrides any potential commentary on systemic violence or the socioeconomic factors that enable street crime to flourish unchecked.
The cast is competent and racially diverse without calling attention to itself, which is to say the film treats representation as a baseline rather than a statement. Betty Gabriel provides a capable supporting performance, but the film offers her little agency or development. The central relationship between man and machine is treated as a straightforward action premise, devoid of the kind of self-aware critique that would elevate it into genuine social commentary. The AI companion STEM is merely a tool, an extension of the protagonist's will rather than an entity with its own moral complications worth exploring.
The film occupies the middle ground of mainstream entertainment without committing to anything beyond its genre obligations. It has good pacing, assured direction, and violence that lands. But nothing here suggests the filmmakers were wrestling with contemporary anxieties about technology, bodily autonomy, or the ethics of enhancement. It exists comfortably in 2018 without particularly acknowledging why 2018 matters culturally. This is not a criticism so much as a statement of fact.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Critic Reviews
“The triumph of a film like Upgrade, an unapologetic B-movie, is that it aims low and exceeds expectations.”
“Upgrade is an intense sci-fi action thriller with big ideas, incredible action and a remarkable lead performance.”
“What Whannell wants most to do is torment and eventually pulverize most of the people in his narrative orbit and make you laugh while he does so.”
“As a movie, it’s the cinematic equivalent of paint-by-numbers: competent, attractive even, but take a single step closer and the lines peek through. There’s no need to pay money to go see Upgrade: If you select it on a plane and sleep through 60% of it, you’ve seen it in its entirety.”
Consciousness Markers
The cast includes actors of color in supporting roles, but their presence feels incidental to the narrative rather than intentional. No particular attention is paid to representation as a meaningful element of the film's world.
No LGBTQ+ themes, characters, or representation are present in the film. The protagonist's relationship is heterosexual and conventionally structured.
The protagonist's wife is killed in the opening sequence, functioning as motivation for the male protagonist's revenge arc. Female characters are largely passive or absent from the narrative.
While the film features a diverse cast, there is no engagement with racial themes or systemic racism. The street crime that catalyzes the plot exists outside any racial or socioeconomic context.
No climate or environmental themes are present in the film.
The billionaire inventor provides the technological solution with minimal moral questioning, though the film does present some skepticism toward corporate technology and surveillance.
Disability is treated as a problem requiring technological correction rather than a condition worthy of acceptance or adaptation. The narrative celebrates the protagonist's return to able-bodiedness.
No neurodivergence representation or themes are present in the film.
The film contains no historical elements or revisionist historical narratives.
The film makes no attempt to educate or lecture its audience about social issues. It remains content within its genre conventions.