SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
While it manages to build a fascinating world for fans of unorthodox superhero drama, Code 8 ultimately fails to populate it with compelling characters and a consequential story.
Over a decade on from the release of Iron Man, which made superhero movies into Hollywood’s latest craze, I find that I’m enjoying all these superhero movies a lot less. Given the history of cinema, that in itself is not unusual. Genres and crazes come and go, even if the likes of Disney have managed to keep this particular craze going for far longer than usual. I don’t enjoy many of the superhero films that reach the theatres these days. The ones I do enjoy share something in common: a willingness to be unorthodox, to absorb the qualities of other genres and to do something properly original. The latest titanic blockbusters might be technically impressive, but all too often their presence dwarfs the small-scale stuff. I contend that creativity and originality are found far more often in the latter than the former. For that reason, part of me likes Code 8 for what it attempts to do. But make no mistake. It’s still only an attempt.
In the opening credits, we are introduced to a world that mirrors our own. Built on the backbones of America’s “powered” community, the fictional Lincoln City was meant to be the city of the future, but declined rapidly. Illegal drugs have become an epidemic as raging unemployment, poverty and discrimination drive more and more powered folk to crime. As a setting for a superhero drama it’s an interesting one, even if it primes itself to say something perceptive, but never quite gets to the cutting social commentary it sets up for. It remains oddly vacuous at its core. You might point out that films don’t have to say anything at all, and you’d be right. But by setting up such a detailed, grounded world, the film most definitely makes out like it has something to say, but never says it, much to its own detriment. The unfulfilled potential here is astounding.
It’s an unfortunately true-to-life world populated by a pretty dull bunch of people. The plot revolves around Connor Reed (Robbie Amell), a young man whose mother is dying from cancer. Given the city’s broken healthcare system, Connor needs money and a lot of it to get her treatment. Since meagre construction jobs barely give him enough to live on, Connor turns to a life of crime under the guidance of the criminal Garrett, played by Arrow’s Stephen Amell, who makes use of Connor’s electricity-based abilities. The cast is competent, and we get solid performances from all. What we don’t get is the vital spark of charisma, charm and wit that would have made this whole thing worth watching. The film makes a fatal mistake in thinking that because its world is so bleak, its characters must be similarly stone-faced and humourless. None of its characters are particularly compelling or even that interesting to begin with, and character development is sadly lacking. The end result is muted and flat; a rote plotline that fizzles out like a damp firecracker, undercut by a stubborn refusal to allow any heart and soul to show through whatsoever. It’s almost mechanical: competent, intense, efficient even, but lacking a real human touch and characters to empathise with. Even its special effects, which are decent for a low-budget indie, don’t give rise to any noteworthy set pieces or sequences.
All in all, some things are better off on TV than as movies, which makes director Jeff Chan’s idea of a spinoff series all the more interesting. There’s the potential to explore the world that the film creates and perhaps most tantalising of all, the chance to see fleshed-out human characters whose stories have consequence and meaning, and are actually worth caring about. Originality and a willingness to go against superhero movie doctrine can only go so far, and with Code 8, they never go quite far enough. Until that series comes out, seek your superhero thrills elsewhere.
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