Upgrade Review: 7 Ups & 2 Downs

5. The Brutally Inventive Action Sequences

While the action may come in fits and starts, Whannell's measured approach to brutality ensures that when the blood-letting occurs, it's all the more bracing and shocking as a result.

Whannell has never been one to skimp on the gore, and Upgrade sees Grey carrying out some truly horrifying acts of violence in his quest for vengeance.

The nauseating bursts of bodily destruction are sure to leave even hardened genre fans hollering at the screen in disgust, while the less-gory fist-fights are bolstered by the director's uniquely dynamic visuals.

Whenever Grey uses STEM to battle some assailants, Whannell employs an eye-popping tracking shot, using Marshall-Green's body as the axis around which everything else moves.

It's a clever yet rather simple stylistic flourish that makes the STEM action feel more heightened, again proving that ingenuity will trump buckets of cash every time.