The self-driving car carrying mechanic Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) and his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) crashed because of an electronics malfunction. Four men came to the accident scene, but instead of calling for help, their leader Fisk (Benedict Hardie) shot Asha in the chest, killing her instantly. Grey was shot to the back of his neck, but he survived. However, this injury left him to be a quadriplegic.
Young technological inventor Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson) helped Grey overcome his severe physical disability by incorporating a powerful multi-purpose chip called STEM into him. With time, Grey realized that STEM did not only enable him to regain his mobility of his arms and legs, but it even gave him extraordinary abilities he never had before. With his new-found abilities, Grey resolved to avenge the brutal murder of his wife.
At first glance, this would seem to be just another film about a vengeful husband hunting down the killers of his beloved wife. So many films have done this story, from "Death Wish" to "John Wick." However, in this film, the very common premise was made more interesting by the introduction of futuristic AI technology conceived to make the hero more than capable to fight back against the people to did him wrong.
Originally, Grey had the final say about what he wanted STEM to do. However, as he proceeded with his plan for revenge, major changes needed to be made on STEM's programming to avoid detection. When STEM went rogue, that was when the film became more conceptually interesting because at this point, the AI was released from Gray's mental control. This gave rise to a conflict of man versus machine over the man's body and actions.
There were some clever ideas to make the villains technologically powerful as well, with shotguns incorporated in their arms or the deadly metallic micro-bugs in their sneeze. However, despite all the high-tech devices, there was an unmistakable B-movie vibe throughout this Blumhouse film, especially with the hammy performances of the largely unknown cast. The ending by writer-director Leigh Whanell was a surprising uplift. 7/10.
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