"Revenge" and "Upgrade"

Let's take a look at some recent B-movies.

First we have Coralie Fargeat's "Revenge," a Franco-American take on the "rape and revenge" picture from a pointedly female perspective.   Jen (Matilda Lutz) is an American party girl who accompanies her married lover Richard (Kevin Janssens) to a remote retreat in the wilderness, where they enjoy some time to themselves before Richard's annual hunting trip with his pals Stan (Vincent Colombe) and Dmitri (Guillaume Bouchède).  Jen rebuffs advances from Stan, sparking escalating violence, and ultimately Jen is left for dead in the desert. She's not dead, of course, and the three men will come to learn exactly how hard it is to kill her.

The pulpy pleasures of "Revenge" are its images and atmosphere, full of sex and violence and sweaty tension.  It's practically a silent film at times, with no particularly interesting dialogue and very bare bones plotting.  Though mostly in English, neither the writer/director, nor most of the actors involved are native speakers. It doesn't matter though, as they're able to get across plenty with strong physical performances and some very enjoyable takes on very old genre tropes.  The setting is especially evocative, a sun-baked desert landscape full of searing colors and pulsing sounds. Some might be tempted to treat "Revenge" as an artsier mood piece, but the copious amounts of blood and gore, and Jen becoming an indestructible terminator against all sane logic, make this indisputably an exploitation picture.

And that's a fine thing, as "Revenge" is self-aware and embraces its genre conventions.  I expect general audiences will enjoy its full buffet of thrills and splatter, but I do so appreciate seeing this kind of story from a feminine point of view, with more emphasis on the the girl power.  Thus, the movie is far more interested in the revenge than the rape, and doesn't dwell on the skeevier sexual material. Sexuality is present in the story, and regularly equated with violence, but not in a titillating fashion.  Rather, it's often used to illuminate the power imbalance between characters or to heighten the intensity of standoffs. There's a lengthy sequence where Jen and Richard stalk each other through the house while Richard is stark naked.  It's one of the most fantastically bonkers action set pieces I've seen in a while, and worth the price of admission by itself.

Next up is "Upgrade," the latest from Leigh Whannell of the "Saw" and "Insidious" films.  It's an action thriller set in the near-future, starring Logan Marshall-Green as Grey, a mechanic who becomes a quadriplegic after he and his wife Asha (Melanie Valejo) are attacked by thugs.  Grey takes a shady deal from a reclusive tech genius named Eron (Harrison Gilbertson), allowing Eron's to implant a biochip into Grey's neck that will allow an AI to help him regain motor function.  The AI is named STEM (Simon Maiden), and turns out to have a mind of its own. Soon Grey and STEM are hunting down the men responsible for the attack, and avoiding the police detective, Cortez (Betty Gabriel) running her own investigation.     

In keeping with the usual Blumhouse aesthetic, "Upgrade" is low budget, no frills, bare bones filmmaking.  However, the scripting is tight and clever, and Marshall-Green delivers a convincing performance as a man who is sharing his body with an AI that can turn him into an action star in the blink of an eye.  The fight scenes are flashy and exciting, and there's an extra layer of fun from Grey and STEM's banter during each bout and chase. However, what makes the film so memorable is the way that it gradually morphs from a high octane buddy-comedy into something darker and more horrific.  Sci-fi fans will find the resolution predictable, but the execution is great. Comparisons to "Black Mirror" and "RoboCop" are appropriate.

It's nice to see Whannell stretching his creative muscles with an action film, after years of horror, and this is easily the most memorable role I've seen Logan Marshall-Green in yet.  I have no doubt that the big studios are going to be hounding them both to go work on the big franchise pictures, like Whannell's "Saw" creative partner James Wan. And while I'm sure that they would both do well, it would also be a shame, because it's the smaller films like "Upgrade" that offer more creative freedom these days, and are often far more enjoyable.   

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