Popular reviews

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  Review by Vishwas Verma ★★★ 1

  In my opinion, this should be a TV series of at least 4-5 seasons. The plot has so much potential.

  The movie is good. Robbie and Stephen did really well. The special effects and the direction is good too.

  Heard it got a tv series with the same cast. Well, that's very good news, I'll be waiting for that.

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  Review by DirkH ★★ 1

  Interesting premise? ✅

  Nice bit of world building? ✅

  Cool action sequences? Well....kinda.

  Interesting characters? Ehm. Well. That's a nope.

  Cool plot then? Nope. Big noperoony there.

  So, generic, beige vanilla then? ✅

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  Review by Austin Burke ★★★ 4

  👌🏻60%
  2019 list - Click HERE

  After hearing about this film for months; I had to check it out. Code 8 is an interesting idea that just wasn’t executed to its full potential. It is showcasing elements of RoboCop, X-Men, and pretty much any superpower-filled film along those lines. We have a construction worker who falls in with a group of criminals in order to raise the funds to help his ill mother. Robbie Amell plays Conner, and he gives a solid-enough performance. The story with his mother is an overused trope, but it’s one that brings us enough emotion to feel connected. What interests me most is this world. We are apparently getting more from it, so that’s a plus,…

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  Review by Dave Taylor ★★★½

  Remember how lame ‘Project Power’ was? ‘Code 8’ takes the same basic ingredients of drugs and super powers (albeit mixed together differently) to create a much better film.

  Apparently, drugs and super powers can’t support a plot on their own, so a standard trope must be used. With ‘Code 8’ we have bank AND armored car heists as the central focus for the action. Both the set up for these plot points and execution were well done and I was invested for the first 2/3rds of the movie. I even thought the visual effects were quite good especially since it is obvious for other reasons that the budget was modest at best.

  The last 20 minutes lost me a bit as the action came to a screeching halt and the ending was muddled to say the least. Still, this is a solid flick and as close to a new super hero movie as you’re likely to get until ‘WW1984.’

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  Review by George Clark ★★★½ 2

  2019 Movies Ranked-HERE

  Code 8 is the passion project of Stephan Amell and Robbie Amell with both producing and staring in the film while Jeff Chan directs. This film is a spin off of the short 11 minute film called Code 8.

  To me, this low budget film is so easy to watch, it’s not trying to be the next biggest block buster, just a passion project. Both brothers shine in what is an indie version of X-Men (a very good indie version). Code 8 is a well crafted crime melodrama and fantasy that pays of by surrounding itself in a grim urban setting. 

  With good cinematography and great acting Code 8 is a film that’s definitely worth watching when you…

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  Review by MovieQueenz ★★½

  This movie came across as somewhat mediocre. I wasn’t overly impressed with the storyline, the action scenes or the overall outcome of the movie

  The only thing that impressed me were the special effects and “powers” that these super-powered people have.

  Whilst there are many synergies to everyday life and the levels of isolation and segregation of different types of people for various reasons, this movie was simply just another “kids mum is dying and he does the wrong thing to see her” type of movie

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  Review by EddieMara ★★★★

  The film doesn't have the most original premise but still an entertaining watch nevertheless. The premise reminds me a lot to Infamous Second Son (which is one of my fav video game of all time) which it could've been really interesting but the execution was very underwhelming and I felt like they wasted so much of the premise's potential to be a really good sci-fi film. To add on, the action sequences and CGI were also very meh. With that being said, the fact that the film was made on a 15M budget is impressive.

  This is definitely can be seen as mediocre by most people but for the most of it, I had a good time watching (and also cuz I'm biased towards X-Men-ish films lol).

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  Review by Jayson Kennedy ★★½

  Proposed present day sci-fi where humans with abilities beyond known senses have been reduced to a quietly detested minority class under tight government control. A young man with electrical powers begins taking shady jobs to help his ailing mother, but as he gets deeper suspicions from police, including a new cybernetic division, are raised.

  Working like a dystopian social concept from John Carpenter's playbook mated with TV-style crime drama and Neill Blomkamp visuals, Code 8 punches above its budget and plays a nice show-and-tell with the abilities of its characters. Some can melt steel with their barehands, some read minds, while others can apply invisible force to objects like Luke had to master in another galaxy long ago. The abilites…

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  Review by Sam Morrison ★★★ 4

  Code 8 is one of those really strong 3s I occasionally give out. The letdown is high here, but it's easy to see what areas needed to be improved on. Because the potential is the strongest aspect, and it needed so much more room to breathe.

  What we needed from this story was a TV show. As a film clocking in at just under 1.5 hours, it feels packed to the brim with neat ideas, the lid barely holding on as it struggles not to burst.

  The world is kind of like an X-Men dystopia, where many young residents have powers, ranging from fire, electricity, mind reading and even healing capabilities. I found myself in love with the police robot…

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  Review by andy levy ★★★½ 8

  it may not have the most original concept - there are humans with superpowers and the world is scared and treats them like crap and drives them underground and to criminal activity etc etc - but it's executed very well, does have a few unique twists, and is well-acted and directed.

  the amell brothers (green arrow and firestorm, to me) do a good job in the two main roles, and it's always a treat to see sung fucking kang (though i wish he'd had a bigger role)

  all in all, a movie that deserves some attention beyond being thrown in itunes' new release section for people to randomly stumble upon, as i did

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  Review by Fred 🇵🇷 ★★½ 2

  "You cross that line, there's no coming back."

  I have a line when it comes to derivative content. Once it becomes clear that a given movie is seemingly set on recreating something, it needs to do at least one amazing thing with its take in order for me to forgive its stepping over that line of blanket familiarity. Code 8, the low-fi X-Men spinoff that first came to existence through a promising short film I caught years ago, never manages to be anything other than just that. It's surprisingly well-made with some pretty impressive low budget CGI and interesting glimpses of genre innovation (not to mention the fact that its well-paced and an overall easy watch). But too much of…

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  Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🇵🇸 ★★

  Close Encounters of the Feb Kind

  World Tour 2020

  Code 8 is the sort of crap I love to put on in the evening normally, as my brain powers down for the day and can handle nothing more intelligent than grenade lobbing and car chases.

  But Jeff Chan's film starts intriguingly enough to suggest that it could have been quite good. Although the concept of people with 'special abilities' being restrained from using them due to legislation has been done in none other than Incredibles 2, it showed some promise.

  Then it quickly becomes a simple, seen-it-all-before 'someone I love is dying and I just lost my job so crime!' film with nothing much to offer at all. The action is sparse, and then it becomes clear that they're trying to do a superhero film here so absolutely fuck that.

  But hey, at least there's a Sung Kang sighting, so there is that.