Summary
A futuristic thriller about a man trying to track down his wife’s killer using the help of an implanted computer upgrade.
My Thoughts
There are some really good moments in this film; there are some really good ideas. It was also very clear where this film had drawn its inspiration, and there were some scenes that were clearly limited as to what the film could do with the budget it had. This film feels like a Frankenstein monster of different films (in more than one way). I’ve used that analogy before to say that a film felt like parts of the movie had been borrowed from others, that the film was dead on arrival. When comparing this movie to Frankenstein’s monster, I mean that in a good way. This film is a messy beast; it’s four or five other films hacked apart and sewn back together into something that feels slightly original. It has some good world building, and some even better brutal fight sequences; and the rules of the world, for the most part, make sense. There are some cool twists, and though in the end, it’s slightly predictable, for a while it keeps you guessing.
(SOME SPOILERS IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH)
In the future, its rather common to have some sort of biological upgrades, but Grey (Logan Marshall-Green, “Spider-Man Homecoming”) is a techno-phobe and doesn’t like the idea of tech enhancements. But after a violent incident that leaves him paralyzed and his wife, murdered, Grey is desperate for some solution that will help him find his wife’s killers. He is offered STEM, a computer program that will grant him access to his limbs again; not only that, but when he allows STEM to take control, it turns him into a type of super soldier. As Grey closes in on the killers, he finds that STEM is smarter and more powerful than he originally imagined.
(SPOILERS END)
First of all, there were a lot of things about this movie that I liked. The world building in this movie is pretty fantastic. There are lots of scenes with small details that hint at a much larger world; little pieces of technology that make life easier, but don’t blow your mind. Subtlety like that is nice to see in sci-fi world. In real life, it’s the small things that change drastically; the bigger things, by and large, remain the same. When worlds show us things that are so drastically different from the worlds we live in, it creates a gap between the characters and ourselves (unless its fantasy; then that’s point). Little things, like the small upgrades to people’s homes, make the worlds feel more real and grounded.
Another thing I liked in this movie was its approach to violence. (Spoilers, I guess) Grey, when he first kills someone, is shocked by the brutality of what has happened. He doesn’t believe himself capable of what he’s done, but slowly, as the film goes on, he’s convinced that this is the way to handle his problems. It adds a little to his otherwise relatively flat character. The fight scenes are all practical too, which, if you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you know I’m a big proponent of. I’d rather watch a well-choreographed fight scene between two people than a CGI superhero spinning round a room fighting a dozen CGI creatures. This movie actually has some pretty brutal kills; it feels like a flashback to 80s R rated action movies (particularly “Robocop”, which, clearly, is one of its main inspirations). The biggest problem is that the most shocking fight scene is one of the first after Grey gets his upgrade. Everything after that is just trying to mimic the frenzied intensity of the previous fights.
I guess I have two big problems with this movie. First is its unevenness. Sometimes, the shots look great; they’re stylish and well thought out. The way the camera pivots in places is robotic, and that’s puts you right into the action. But other times the film looks muted and underexposed. Sometimes, Logan is extremely compelling as Grey; he’s emotional and intense. Other times it looks like he’s trying to remember his lines. Second: this film is being praised as a wholly original concept when it’s not. This film does have some original moments in it, but for the most part it feels like bits of better movies, and that just made me want to watch those movies. This film references “Blade Runner”, “Robocop”, “Brazil”, “Frankenstein”, “Ex Machina”, any revenge movie ever… it even reminded me of the trailer for the upcoming “Venom” movie. This film has a few very cool, very original ideas; the rest it stole from b-movies and repurposed into another b-grade thriller.
The problem is this movie is getting rave reviews (as I write this, it’s sitting at an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes). This movie deserves some recognition, but 86%? With that score we should expect something masterful. The problem with today’s moviegoers is that they’re used to the same old stuff, over and over again. This isn’t a superhero movie, a reboot, a remake, or a movie based on a twenty-year-old cartoon, and that’s great! It’s not as original as some smaller budget indie thrillers I’ve seen, but at least it’s not the ninth Transformers movie. This movie, the more that I think about it, frustrated me. Sometimes, when wandering the movie desert of endless blockbusters, reboots, remakes, soft-reboot-remakes, sequels and cinematic universes, the only thing we want is something completely fresh and original. This film was almost enough to quench my thirst. Almost. I feel instead like a man who’s wandered the desert, and finally come across a well, only to find that it dried up the day before.
Verdict
I struggled with deciding on a final rating for this film. I couldn’t decide between a 3.5 or a 3. I went with 3/5. Don’t get me wrong; I liked this movie. I did not love it. I would recommend this if you stumbled across it on Netflix, but I wouldn’t rave about it, nor would I be heartily disappointed if I missed this in theaters. It’s a fine movie, one that is better than some of the action movies out there right now, but its not as good as others. It’s a fine thriller, too; one that’s slightly predictable but still entertaining to sit through.
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