Code 8: Renegados

Code 8

It is obvious that this Indie Sci-Fi from Director Jeff Chan takes inspiration from the X Men franchise but it also has a Neill Blomkamp vibe. Set in a world where some humans have extraordinary gifts. These powered individuals live in poverty. Their gifts are more of a burden and anyone caught using their special abilities must answer to the law. A powered construction worker played by Robbie Amell falls in with a criminal gang when he desperately needs to raise money for his sick mother.

As aforementioned this film is heavily influenced by the X Men movies but it does have its own unique premise. Sadly the execution of this premise is slightly lacking. Performances by all are commendable. The audience will grow to care for what happens to those onscreen due to some decent acting. However this story would have been better told as a TV series rather than a 1hr 38min movie. The world which is created onscreen is one that can be expanded upon. An episodic TV show would have allowed the created universe and characters to flourish. I have read somewhere that Robbie and Co-star Stephen Amell are actually developing a continuation for the small screen.

Considering that this films production budget was crowd funded and was only a measly $2.1 million the special effects are really quite impressive. This is where the Neill Blomkamp vibe becomes apparent. The robotic police officers in the movie reminded me of the robot designs in 'Elysium' or perhaps 'Chappie'. But it is painfully obvious that it is just a man in a suit rather than a CGI creation. This is where budget constraints are visible. Still the aerial shots of the drones deploying the robots was rather cool. This is a film that does punch above its weight in terms of the visuals effects.

'Code 8' is certainly worth checking out. It's probably a movie that won't linger in the memory banks for long but the expansion of the universe created by this film in the form of a TV show would be most welcome.

Code 8 is a mix of Blade Runner (for the music style and the image texture and color) and X-Men for the scenario. It's a very good movie. It's a little bit like if the director and the producers said « ok teenagers have the X-Men saga, let's do something around the same idea but for adults ». The are no jaw dropping special effects, mutants (called "person with abilities" in the movie) dont do funky stuff.. every body acts great.. it's the kind of sci-fi movie that will very likely go unnoticed and it's a shame, it deserves much much more.

I think a few reviewers might have been disappointed that this wasn't the kind of vibe you'd normally associate with the Super Hero genre.

This is well made, scripted and acted with a dark, dystopian near-alternate future as its background.

If you're looking for a darker approach with a little moral ambiguity you might enjoy this more than you expected to. Think "crime thriller" rather than supers.

I will start out by saying that the movie is not great, but I can also say that it doesn't deserve as much flack as it's getting. A thing some have been talking about was that it doesn't add anything new and while it is true, I also don't think it needs to. The movie is enjoyable to watch and it definitely had potential. My complaint with this movie is with the characters. The characters have little to no development or depth. Again I want to restate that it's not a bad movie, at points, you can feel as if the characters could be real people and connect with them. However these moments are cliche and very few. At it's worst, the movie will throw ideas in the air and never come back to them. Special effects are very well done and don't let down. The plot was generic but still enjoyable. Overall, this movie is good for casual audiences and people that just wanna sit down and turn off their brain for an hour after a long day. If you want something with a lot more to offer than this then I wouldn't recommend watching this movie.

It's Dec 2019 and I can safely count on both hands films that I've thoroughly enjoyed this year and Code 8 is one of the them. Mid budget Scfi drama at its best. Watchable once and maybe again a year or two from now. A definite go.