In responsibly continuing to self-isolate, I watched Code 8
on Netflix.
In the world of Code 8, about 4% of the population is born ‘powered’.
Some are “tks” or telekinetics, some are ‘brawns’ or super strong, some are ‘pyros’
and can generate heat from their hands, some are ‘electrics’ and guess what
they can do. They are treated as
lower-class, mostly using their powers for work when possible. Occasionally one will commit a crime and that’s
enough to make the regular people kick around the idea of banning, expelling,
or locking up the powered folks. This results
in many of them deciding to hide their abilities to avoid persecution.
We meet Connor, an electric, who is busy using his powers on
various construction gigs to gather enough money to help his mother’s medical
bills. She seems to have cold powers and
a tumor pushing on her brain that causes her to lose control of those powers
from time to time. There’s certainly treatment, but it’s really expensive. Connor’s doing his best to stay on the straight
and narrow, earning honest money but an encounter with the cops and their
robotic guardians when they raid his construction site makes him angry. When
his mother’s condition worsens, he starts to get desperate. When a mysterious crew shows up looking for
an electric, he joins them, barely hesitating when they start committing
crimes. Add in a situation with ‘Psyke’
a drug made from powered folks, a mind-reading crime boss, and a healer trapped
in a bad situation, and things for Connor get more complicated by the minute.
Code 8 started as a crowd-funded short starring the Amells and
directed by Jeff Chan. With the success
of the crowd-funding, the full-length version was made. I was surprised by how much I liked it. It’s
a tight little story that feels familiar but with just enough sci-fi additions
to keep it interesting. It managers to
keep feeling small and independent even with the futuristic flair. The story is good, the characters
interesting, and the execution great.
The Amells, both Robbie and Stephen, don’t bother to employ
some of the tricks used in Young Guns to hide the Estevez-Sheen relationship. In case you weren’t sure why Charlie Sheen
wears that silly hat for most of that movie – it was to make it harder to see
that he and Emilio were brothers. Here,
Stephen has his season 7 (or 6?) Arrow beard, but he and Robbie still look very
similar. The cousins worked together to
get this project off the ground and they both bring a groundedness to their
characters. Robbie gives Connor a relatability as he struggles with the
day to day living that makes the audience feel for him. He makes some questionable decisions but its
easy to see why.
Stephen plays Garrett, the TK leader of a shady thievery crew
filled out by Vlad Alexis’s Freddy and Laysla De Oliveira’s Maddy.
Freddy’s a brawn and Maddy’s a pyro but they
need Connor’s electrical abilities to pull off their latest heist. It’s hard not to see Oliver Queen in Garrett,
but Stephen does a good job of being just enough different.
Kari Matchett plays Mary, Connor’s mother. She’s desperate
to keep him from making the same mistakes that his father made – namely falling
into crime.
Greg Byrk plays Marcus Sutcliffe, the aforementioned
mind-reading crime boss and Kyla Kane plays the healer he keeps near him. He does a great job of being creepy and she
does a great job of looking like she really wants to get away from him.
Aaron Abrams, who recently annoyed me on Blindspot, plays
one of the cops after Sutcliffe and company. Sung Kang (#JusticeForHan) plays
Agent Park, his partner on this expedition. The two of them are really
interesting and the movie just barely gets to introduce some issues that Park
is having as a result of his ex-wife and powered daughter.
8 out of 10 – Like I said, surprised by how much I enjoyed
it. It’s a fast-paced and interesting little crime drama with an added sci-fi
bonus. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel to see what Garret and Connor
get up to later on. Overall, I highly
recommend it, make your own popcorn and do some deep-couch sitting to enjoy this
one on Netflix.
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