Code 8 | Movie Review

At the beginning of the week I decided to have a bit of a movie marathon while I did my weekly blog writing. Anything to help ease the boredom of lock-down and encourage me to stay focused and stimulate any imagination. This was one such movie that I wanted to give a go.

There had been nothing around that pointed me in the direction of this movie. I hadn't seen any trailers, and I had seen no reviews or articles that even spoke about this movie. However, I enjoy a good super-powered movie and this one looked like something I hadn't seen before.

A super-powered construction worker falls in with a group of criminals in order to raise the funds to help his ill mother. (synopsis from IMDB)

Initial reaction...

I actually enjoyed this movie, it was full of action and the characters were pretty interesting to watch. Then there was the CGI, my god the CGI was amazing! It genuinely looked like the people in thie movie had powers that could be used and utilised in real life.

This is the type of movie that I am aspiring to write and it was really inspiring to see a movie like this. People with powers were brought into the real world without going down the usual "hero" route. Here there is the sense of descrimination towards people with powers in a way that reflects real life descrimination.

Favourite moments...

• Brilliant CGI: As i've mentioned above, the use of CGI throughout this film was great. There was the occasional moment where the powers were used in a flashy way that we're used to with the normal super-hero movies. But the overall showing of people's powers felt much more realistic. It felt more like the powers had been integrated into real-life and made the characters struggles with having these powers much more realistic.
• Allegory for descrimination: When it came to how the world was built around people with powers, it was interesting to see how the history eventually moved towards people with powers being segregated in society. It was such an interesting parallel that showcased how things are in the world right now. There were areas that could've been improved upon or devled further into, but that would probably require another movie with a different feel to it.
• Realistic premise: after the many years with huge super-hero movies where people with powers beyond our wildest dreams have graced our screens, it was weirdly refreshing to see how this movie handled people with powers. The opening of the movie dealt with this great; it showed how people with powers started off as heros, until people turned against them. Now they're seen as "lesser" people in society, treated with no respect yet they're able to work using their powers.

Overall...

I did enjoy this movie, it helped inspire me while I was getting on with my own writing. It was very refreshing to see a movie with this kind of style and realism when it came to the portray of people with remarkable powers. There was an array of scenes utilising brilliant CGI and camera trickery to bring these powers to life without coming across as fake or gimicky.

I will say though, that despite overall enjoying watching this movie, looking back it doesn't feel like there was a lot that happened in this movie. It feels more like a movie that could open up a world for a whole new style of movie franchise, thats if the writer/director want to go in that direction. But I'd welcome a follow on movie.