The Return of Superfly

This 2nd sequel to the original "Superfly" (1971) has another face portraying the super-smooth Priest, who has since been living as a legitimate businessman in Paris. The plot is a straight-up revenge story (Priest's former dealer buddy Eddie has been slain), it's just one that doesn't hold your interest at all. We've seen this done many times before, and much better. Nathan Purdee has the pretty-boy look (don't know where the hell he came from), but lacks the acting ability or charisma of Ron O'Neal. You don't give a hoot about him at all. (Whereas you wanted to see Ron O'Neal come out on top, in spite what he did for a living). Actually, Tico Wells (as Priest's back up man, Willy Green) and Samuel L. Jackson (as a buddy named Nate) steal this slow moving film with a highly implausible plot. Lot of shootings, plus a wasted Margret Avery in a quasi-love interest throwaway role (although she still looks great these days), and Carlos Carrasco as Hector ('Gigantor Ortiz' in "Speed") is the best thing this mediocre film has going for it. There is one other henchman named 'Joey' played by Leonard L. Jackson (not related to Sammy) who has the most annoying tee-hee laugh I've ever heard. Sig Shore is one lousy director. No style, some shots linger way too long, zero tension build, pace only picked up at the end. The cops were both stupid and annoying. The locales are true gritty NYC/Harlem all right, but this film is dry as a two-day old piece of toast you forgot to eat. I also see Nathan Pardee hasn't done much of anything else (other than one other film) since this came out in 1990. That tells me a LOT. Curtis Mayfield tries hard to recreate his killer original score (with a Hip-Hop twist) but ya just can't go back I suppose. This should've never been made.

This movie essentially incorporates elements of the first two films ("Superfly" and "Superfly T.N.T.") with "Youngblood Priest" (played by Nathan Purdee) still living in Europe and having just heard about the violent murder of his former partner "Eddie" (Rony Clanton). Although he has no great affection for him he still feels an obligation to find out who killed him. The problem is, that having been gone for almost ten years, Harlem has changed quite a bit and with very few friends to help him out the odds are stacked against him. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film was nowhere close to the original movie in that it didn't have the same depth or raw passion. It also had a couple of scenes that should have been detailed more thoroughly as well. In any case, while this movie certainly didn't measure up to its potential, I suppose it was adequate enough and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Return of Superfly isn't prime "blackploitation" because it was made in the late 1980's but it has some entertaining "blacksploitation" moments. The way Priest takes out the opposition is fun stuff. The film also has the lovely Margaret Avery who is sexy as ever. Curtis Mayfield, the musical genius behind the first Superfly, also provided music for this one and it is excellent. I was amazed to see the great Samuel Jackson in this too. Nathan Purdee steps into the role originally played by the excellent Ron O'Neil, and he's as cool as ice (maybe even cooler!). I love the idea of a clean living Priest running circles around a younger band of thugs. Priest was always sharp and we learned in the previous Superfly movie, from the great Roscoe Lee Brown, that he'd be even sharper without the drugs. Return of Superfly proves it.

This POS is a disgrace to the original 1972 SuperFly. The only reason why I gave it 2 stars is because an actor going by the name of Sam Jackson (Samuel L. Jackson) has a small part in this schlockfest of a film. Other than that, this is a movie to miss.

People shouldn't be dissing this movie, cause they are missing the point. This movie is not supposed to be a blockbuster. Its clearly a low budget film, and is a great B Movie. Samuel L Jackson is great in this movie, as well as the soundtrack by Curtis Mayfeild. Some cool editing that captures the 80's feel perfectly in 1990, like when people fly thru windows, or short segway scenes, the sound designers put in cool vocal samples or other strange effects. This movie will be greatly enjoyed by people that appreciate bad movies for their comical end result. This is a great late night movie with friends that have a sense of humor :)