SuperFly Review
R: Violence and language throughout, strong sexuality, nudity, and drug contentSony, Columbia Pictures, Silver Pictures1 Hr and 56 MinutesDir: Director X | Writer: Alex TseCast: Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael K. Williams, Lex Scott Davis, Jennifer Morrison, Jacob Ming-Trent, Andrea Londo, Esai Morales, Big Boi, Rick Ross, Lecrae, Kaalan WalkerIt is way too early after “Black Panther” to see African Americans portray drug lords, gangsters, and pimps again. Leave it to Sony to release another degrading Black feature, but WHAT?! It’s a remake of an iconic 70s Blaxploitation film? And they released it under the Columbia Pictures label rather than the Screen Gems label? You’re telling this has the same seal of quality as “Jumanji”, “Men in Black”, and “Spider-Man”? And JOEL SILVER PUT MONEY BEHIND THIS TOO?! The dude who produced “The Matrix”, “The Nice Guys”, and “Sherlock Holmes” put money behind "SuperFly" along with the rapper Future!?
When Priest, a young but experienced coke dealer in Atlanta, realizes it's time to get out of the trade, he risks it all on one last score. Double-crossing his mentor, Priest heads to Mexico to connect with the cartel that serves as the source of his product.THE GOODTo give credit where credit is due, the best aspect of “SuperFly” is the lead played by Trevor Jackson. Compared to Ron O’Neal, who was the original SuperFly, Jackson is significantly younger but he carries the entire film with his performance. This Priest, as opposed to the original, is more calm and collected and moves with dignity and suaveness no matter how crazy the situation gets around him. Jackson is 21 and pulls off the same calm bravado as (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Chadwick Boseman as T'challa. Priest isn’t royalty, but he moves like a respectable king and, for Jackson being a 21-year-old and having to carry a role by himself with all this history to this character and the weight resting on his shoulders, he excels. Not only do I like how Jackson portrays Priest, but I also love how he interacts with other experienced actors who he sometimes overshines.
Also, Priest’s relationships with other women is something you don’t see in film nowadays. On the surface you think he’s a pimp, but he’s in a polygamous relationship with two women. I respect how the women he lives with are portrayed where they are his business consultants and sometimes his spies to all of his business moves. Granted, it does lead to an over-the-top orgy shower scene that comes from nowhere and has no context in the story. Shoot, the way it was filmed could’ve come straight from a “Fifty Shades of Grey” film if it wasn’t for the fact that the only difference was that an extra body was in the shower. OTHER THAN THAT, yay for polygamous relationships in film. It’s a shame the target demographic is not going to catch that.THE BADThis movie had a strong 20 minutes. For 20 minutes I thought “SuperFly” was decent, but then it just delves into your typical gangster movie where the lead is trying to get out of the game before he gets killed. The story is generic and borrows from many other gangster narratives, but one of the primary issues of this movie is the production itself. This is the directing debut of Director X, the director behind the most memeable music video of all time:
And this has to be the most televised production I’ve ever seen on a big screen. There is no reason this movie needs to be on a big screen for there is little to no cinematic value at all. Was this shot on an iPhone, a Canon T2, or maybe a Sony camera? Director X is known for his music videos and the studio couldn’t give him enough money for a good camera? The quality isn’t that good to look at and because of the poor cinematic quality, you can easily point out the terrible technical aspects from the poor ADR work to the poor editing. There are terrible CGI explosions and gunshots that look straight out of After Effects that makes some scenes that are supposed to be intentionally intense into unintentionally laughable. Shoot, every time someone is shot or killed this gospel-type singer “hmmms” in the background as if it’s a big deal. I mean, death is a big deal but you don’t care about the characters who are killed, for you can predict who’s going to get killed any second.
Some characters seem grounded but most are over the top stereotypically ghetto. The main antagonist played by Kaalan Walker is a hot head for no fucking reason. He has no motivation to be an asshole except that he just doesn’t like Priest and is envious over what he got. That’s it. Because of this, his performance is at an eleven. He might as well be the Black Anger from “Inside Out” because that’s what he just is: angry.To quote the NAACP during the time when Blaxploitation films became popular in the 70s, “We must insist that our children are not exposed to a steady diet of so-called black movies that glorify black males as pimps, dope pushers, gangsters, and super males.” That quote was applied to the original “SuperFly” then and I’m applying that to this current “SuperFly” now. My main issue with this movie is its glorification. Both the music and the movie itself glorify gang activity and is completely unapologetic about it. Characters are calling each other the N word every two sentences and it’s just uncomfortable. We’ve come so far in the past two years from “Moonlight” to “Black Panther” and now we’re back to gangsters and drug lords and pimps.What makes it worse is that, out of nowhere, it decides to be relevant to our time an hour in, making the narrative be
ConvolutedAn entirely separate storyIt isn’t until one hour till the word “police” is said and then all of a sudden, “SuperFly" wants to become a BLM movie which doesn’t fit into this narrative that is already representing us poorly. Don’t try to add in current social issues involving police criminality in your pusher, thugs, and pimps movie when the police already sees African Americans as those three things. If you’re going to be a gangster flick that worships the hood life, maintain that consistency. Don’t try to be something you’re not where you’re trying to bring up relevant criminal issues in a movie where everyone is doing criminal acts. LAST STATEMENTWhile Trevor Jackson displays an outstanding performance, “SuperFly” is a technically poorly constructed remake that still glorifies sex and violence in a modern time, which is pointless right now when Black roles in cinema are being promoted while this just degrades it.Rating: 1.5/5 | 39%Super Scene: Kung Fu Priest
