Superfly

This is a loud slick noisy update of the 1972 Blaxploitation Super Fly. The tunes lack the funk of the original and I welcomed the burst of Curtis Mayfield's title track.

Trevor Jackson is cool but bland as the Atlanta drug pusher Youngblood Priest. He wants to make that one big score and get out with his two girlfriends.

To do this he makes a connection with the Mexican cartel, stay one step ahead of rival gang Snow Patrol and then he has to deal with crooked cops who want a piece of the coke pie.

Priest has been made more nicer and morally centered in this version, he was not so nice in the original.

Despite looking more lavish than the original. Director X has stuck to his music video aesthetics. I think all those shots of women in strip clubs looks sleazy for all the wrong reasons.

The film is really too long, the crooked cops were just cartoonish, I am surprised no one caught them out earlier. The script is full of holes but it is a watchable that improves as it goes on.

It's Entertainment. A comic book story made into a movie, with all the comic trimmings. I guess the other reviewers really didn't like Priest's over-the-top hairdo... and they're kind of right: it is excessive. But then again, he's supposed to be a combination of dangerous, sharp, slick, & smooth, all at once; so I'll give him that. Besides, the movie is entertaining. That, and I wasn't expecting a blockbuster; but it's nicely done. Wastes no time. What happened to people just watching movies and expecting to be entertained? That's what I expect from a movie: "Will it entertain me, and how much will it entertain me?" All the other niggles about script, technical qualities, and what not, are just that: niggles. If you're down with going on a fantasy gangsta trip for 116 minutes... see expensive cars, gals, guns, gratuitous T & A; cool martial arts, and a hail of bullets, with a sprinkling of love to round it all out... Go see this movie.

Everything about this movie is just too predictable and looks like much thought wasn't put into it. There were just too many irrelevant scenes in this movie which didn't need to be screened.

The worst part about this movie is that it seemed like an advert for the Lexus sports car the main character drove as the panning and camera angles were irrelevant.

Overall, it was a subpar movie.

I do not recommend this movie. I watched it and wanted to scratch my eyes out. Low IQ gangsters, terrible music, poorly written. Some Scenes look like they were shot on an old soap opera set. No redeeming value in this film.

The original Super Fly is credited as being one of the original Blaxploitation movies along with Sweet Sweetback's Baadassssss Song and Shaft. All of which are considered essential movies in the genre.

This remake hits all the right notes and it updates it for today's audiences but it doesn't really bring anything new or noteworthy to the mix. It's stylish and honestly feels more like an extended music video in some parts. Now part of that could very well be because of the director and his background. But that's good for music videos and not for a feature length movie.

But the real issue is this movie has no real reason to exist. It's a remake that really is the same exact story as the original. I get why they wanted to make it but it doesn't bring anything really new to the mix.

As a stand alone movie it's just kinda okay. As a remake it's just a tepid retelling of a much better story.