Review Tuesday: CODE 8: Part 1 & Part 2

 

 

CODE 8

2019

In a dystopian future, people with special abilities are forced to turn to crime. 

Here we go, a couple more films I saw with my friend recently. In a not so distant future, people are displaying special abilities. They can summon cold, or heat, or electricity, etc, etc and turn out to be very helpful and useful for all sorts of jobs and help build Lincoln City. As you would guess, they are thanked by being forced to get permits to get jobs using their abilities or they can't work. The cost is exorbitant so many people with abilities turn to a life of crime.

 

To me, this kinda felt like The X-Men if they tried to make it more real-life and believable. And not allowed to say mutant. As we see with shows like THE BOYS, when we used to WANT to believe in Superman or Spider-man, that with great power comes great responsibility, in reality those powers would be abused and taken advantage of. 

 

We watch Connor Reed (Robbie Amell) as he turns to a life of crime in hopes of scaring up the money to save his mother from a terminal illness. As you can imagine it turns into a lesson in Crime Doesn't Pay.     

The movie is pretty well made and looks pretty polished. It has better special effects than you would expect. It's also fairly predictable. Not bad. It's worth it to watch just for the robots.

 

AMAZON

 

CODE 8:

PART II

2024

Connor is greeted by a different Lincoln City after spending five years in prison. 

I don't know if the first one was meant to be a pilot for a series or what, but it did take five years for a follow up film to come out. 

 

This movie starts with Connor leaving jail and trying to make his way back to the city. He is confronted by his buddy from his criminal past Garrett (Stephen Amell, Robbie's cousin) who is now a crime boss. Connor declines his offer and tries to live a clean life. Well, he has a respectable job but is also addicted to the drug Psyke. 

 

As it turns out, the city is faced with new levels of corruption. Garrett is a big time Psyke dealer and he's working with the cops. One night one of Garrett's runners decides to double-cross him and steal the cash-drop for the Police. This guy's sister witnesses the new LC robot dog kill him. These were supposed to be NON-lethal machines and this exposes a level of corruption previously unimagined. 

 

So now it's a movie that revolves around a little girl. I HATE movies about little kid heroes. Couple that to much weaker writing filled with plot-holes and you end up with a much LESS satisfying film experience. Not thrilled.   

 

NETFLIX    

Word has it that a Part III is in the works...