Action Movie 'Upgrade' Outdoes 'John Wick' With Violent Fight Scenes

John Wick may be the king of modern action heroes, but a new movie might give Wick a run for his money. A new indie action film, Upgrade, has inventive fight scenes the likes of which you’ve never seen before, guaranteed.

On Tuesday, Blumhouse Tilt released the trailer for Upgrade, directed by Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell. The film stars Logan Marshall Green (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Grey Trace, a man whose wife is killed in a mugging that also leaves him paralyzed. A billionaire offers Grey a cure to “upgrade” his body — using an A.I. implant called “STEM” — that endows Grey with special abilities to exact revenge. While that sounds an awful lot like The Crow or The Six Million Dollar Man, Upgrade stands out with truly innovative action scenes rarely seen anywhere. It’s ultra violent, too.

While most filmmakers would have given Grey super kung fu and call it a day, Whannell frames Grey as a literal killing machine. Each movement is deadly efficient, unlike the dance-like choreography of Jackie Chan or Keanu Reeves’s tactical combat in the John Wick movies. Because unlike those characters, Green’s Grey Trace is barely human at all anymore.

Upgrade also looks like it’s channeling Whannell’s origins in horror, with the fight scenes looking as gruesome as the Saw movies.

Interestingly, Whannell moves his camera in ways not unlike how Saw partner James Wan shot his fight scenes for 2015’s Furious 7.

Will Grey Trace unseat John Wick as the alpha dog of action movies? Maybe not. But at least we know Upgrade will deliver something different than John Wick and the Fast & Furious. It might make us squirm, too.

Upgrade will be released in theaters on June 1.