The Return of Superfly

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.

I avoided this movie for 30 plus years. No other reason: Tico Wells and Leonard L Thomas is worth watching this movie. One of the best supporting cast assemble, which is a problem as I more interested in Tico and Leonard than the lead. Second problem: The clock was never set. I paused the movie with 20 minutes remaining to see the end, it could have went on FOREVER. The ending: The ending is to clever for its own good.

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.

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 :)

The original "SUPERFLY" has always been one of my favorite films, and is undoubtedly an important milestone in urban filmmaking. So, what is there to say about this lame sequel? For one, it is an attempt to get back to the original, with a somewhat interesting plot, bringing the character of Priest back to the drug scene he managed to stray away from so many years ago, unlike "SUPERFLY T.N.T.", which went an entirely different, yet plausible route.

The biggest problem, and perhaps this is the factor that's really holding it back, is the miscasting of Youngblood Priest, this time played by Nathan Purdee. Purdee is a sore choice to fill Ron O'Neal's shoes. You can't make a SuperFly movie without Ron O'Neal, plain and simple. Just as the original tag-line read: "Never a dude like this one!" Precisely. Purdee ain't SuperFly, which keeps this one grounded, throughout.

The best thing this film has going for it is Curtis Mayfield, who is back to score. Here he does a fine job of balancing the roots of his original music with a contemporary spirit, that suits the film well.

In my opinion, between the two sequels, "SUPERFLY T.N.T." is far superior, yet it sorely lacks the input of Mayfield and Gordon Parks, Jr. But, on the other hand, we at least have Ron O'Neal reprising his role. With "THE RETURN OF SUPERFLY", we unfortunately, don't have that option, yet we do have a new score by Mayfield. Go figure.

Now, if only these two sequels could have met somewhere and shared a cup of coffee, we might be on to something... the melding of a perfect sequel.