Body horror comes as no surprise from director Whannell, as he wrote the first three Saw films. But there is more to this than just exploitation, and it's a curious mix of sci-fi, revenge drama and doom-mongering about the perils of AI that just about gels. Basically, a couple's self-driving car crashes, and then men turn up to kill her and leave him quadriplegic. Then, when a reclusive tech company head offers to restore his mobility by implanting a revolutionary chip in his spine, he grabs at the chance and of course uses it to seek out those responsible for his wife's death. This turns very nasty quite soon as the chip dishes out horrendous violence, operating his body with unstoppable killing machine efficiency, while calmly talking to him in his head, offering options for each step like an interactive story.
It wears its numerous influences brazenly on its sleeve (The Terminator, The Matrix, Existenz, Ex Machina etc.) and doesn't really end up saying anything new about the inadvisability of tampering with what the good Lord gave you, but it thunders along enjoyably and hits its finale with an efficiency many of its bigger-budget equivalents singularly fail to do.
6/10
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