Oh look, it’s Canadian X-Men. I wonder what that would really be like … everybody using their superpowers to excel at ice hockey? Unfortunately, Code 8 has no ice hockey, just a lot of xenophobia and some bitchin’ new drugs. Opium comes from poppy seeds? Pfft. Try injecting the spinal fluid of dudes with superhuman powers; now that will get you off.
On some level, you have to feel for this film as the hero, a high-powered human taser, is only doing it for mom. Awwww. Ain’t that sweet? Connor (Robbie Amell) has been learning the hard way that “we don’t serve your kind” is universal even in whatever age we’re supposed to be in. (I think it’s supposed to be the 1990s, but I don’t remember an outbreak of telekinesis, telepathy, or teleportation when I was there…I do remember telenovelas. Are they a super power?) Here’s the deal: mom seems to be dying of Altoids and Connor just can’t find a job cuz THE MAN (sorry, in Canada it’s “THE MAN/L’MAN”) don’t hire any of those and by those, I mean POWERS – dudes who can do superhuman stuff. There are a ton of ‘em, and every.single.one has to sacrifice their gifts in order to be treated like a pariah – it’s not unlike junior high.
So Connor is hanging out in the parking lot of the L’Homme Depot waiting L’X Games to begin when a truck pulls up offering cash for dubious labor. Connor is desperate, of course, and gives in. Pretty soon, he can add b&e and grand theft to his -as yet- harmless rap sheet. Here it is, son, your moment of reckoning – do you take Door #1 which holds an illicit, underground life that keeps your mother alive or Door #2, behind which lies integrity and grief. Door #3, of course, hides a goat (la chèvre).
I have the same problem here that I have in the X-Men films: why don’t the Powers just unite and recast the society they want? I have no trouble believing Powers would be oppressed; it’s what fearful people do…that part is easy to see. Thing is … it’s a lot harder to put an immigrant in a cage when the immigrant can melt the cage bars simply by touching them. I’ve seen X-Men take on planets; think they couldn’t handle a few Mounties?
It would be wrong of me not to point out the peril; every police action in this film is paced above by giant drone that releases two humanoid malevobots whenever they spy trouble, or –presumably- a Black Lives Matter parade. To gain independence, you have to deal with the bots before you ever get to the badges.
As with most crime films, this one shows how cool thug life is right up until our hero is already too far in to go back. Funny how that works. And, man, for guys with superpowers who control the drugs in Sim City or wherever they are, they sure hang out in a seedy bar; you guys should think aboot upgrading. I liked that Connor was in it for his mom and not a girl or a glamorized vision of criminal life; that made me tolerate the plotholes much more than the usual crime film. However, Code 8 is simply a poor man’s X-Men film where the abilities are arbitrary, the subtext is racism, and the CGI is exactly where you left it. Code 8, whatever that means, isn’t an irresponsible look at our collective dystopian future, but it is likely a forgettable one.
X-Men is a display of stupid human tricks
From morphing to healing to getting your kicks
Super powers are cool, some powers are groovy
I want the one where I enjoy the movie
Rated TV-MA, 98 Minutes
Director: Jeff Chan
Writer: Chris Pare
Genre: Our miserable future
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The misunderstood
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Authoritarians
