SUPERFLY : Tuesday 14th August 2018

I saw 'SUPERFLY' this week, and here we have a remake of the 1972 Blaxploitation action crime drama film of the same name, this time Directed by Director X (aka Julien Christian Lutz). This Canadian film and music video Director has been shooting music videos since 1998, but this is only his third outing helming a feature film since 'Across the Line' in 2015 and 'Centre Stage : On Pointe' in 2016. Released in the US in mid-June and in the UK not until Mid-September, the film cost US$16M to make, has so far grossed US$21M and has garnered generally mixed Reviews. The 1972 film incidentally, cost under US$500K to make and grossed in excess of US$30M, and is perhaps best remembered for its memorable Curtis Mayfield soundtrack. A sequel was released in 1973 'Super Fly T.N.T.' which tanked commercially and critically, and in 1990 a second sequel was released 'The Return of Super Fly' which performed no better. Now in 2018 its time to dust off those street hustlers and underworld crims of yesteryear and package them up into this polished fast talking hard hitting 21st Century offering.

The film opens up with Youngblood Priest (Trevor Jackson) pulling up to some local nightclub and marching in as though he owns the joint . . . and perhaps he does! He swaggers up to the apparent owner - all bleached blond dreadlocks, heavy gold neck chains and surrounded by his brother and sistahood with gangsta rap blaring out from the stereo of his newest 'acquisition' - a latest model Lamborghini. Priest asks him where his money is, and the dreadlocked dude surrounded by his two armed homies spins a confident yarn stating that he has no intention of coughing up. Priest retorts with a spin on the dudes mother and his beliefs in God, which ultimately sees the guy hand over the keys to his prized Lamborghini as collateral against the debt owed.

From here, en route to his next port of call, we learn that Priest has been hustling the streets of Atlanta since he was aged eleven, running cocaine ultimately, creating jobs and making a very comfortable living for himself along the way thank-you very much. He has never killed another, never been arrested, and runs a clean, tidy, well organised business, albeit an underworld business that is off the Police radar. And to thank for his success at his comparatively young age are his mentor Scatter (Michael Kenneth Williams), his inspiration Georgia (Lex Scott Davis) and his partner in crime and bestie Eddie (Jason Mitchell).

He pulls up to another nightclub and again waltzes in. This high end strip joint is owned and run by 'The Snow Patrol' who all sit above the crowd dressed in white, sucking on expensive Champagne and stogies, and flicking $20 bills into the crowd below like they're going out of fashion. Q (Big Bank Black) is the leader of Snow Patrol who walks around in what resembles a polar bear skin coat and a full set of gold teeth. Q and Priest share a mutual respect for each other despite their rivalry, but Q's young protege Juju (Kaalan 'KR' Walker) has a disliking and a mistrust for Priest and would rather see him dead - a fact that he constantly niggles his his gang leader about.

When the evening is done, Priest and his girlfriend Georgia exit the club and while waiting for his car to be brought around, is heckled by a decidedly drunk and possibly stoned Juju. A fist fight breaks out between the two which quickly sees Priest dispense with Juju and a couple of other Snow Patrol goons. After the fracas has subsided, and with his back turned Juju rises, pulls his gun and fires. In that split second, Priest has turned around and dodges the bullet, literally, as it hurtles past him and into the stomach of a young girl standing nearby with two friends. Juju is quickly bundled into a car and whisked away. Priest hands the girls a wad of rolled up bank notes and says get to the hospital, and quickly exits stage left. And so the scene is set.

Next Priest meets with his best mate and right hand man Eddie. Priest overnight has made up his mind to exit the game after that violent attack that so easily could have taken his life. He discusses the fact with Eddie who is less inclined to give up the good life and the wealth they have accumulated, and are still yet to make. Priest convinces Eddie to take on one last job, but a big one, that will see them be able to 'retire' somewhere else but here, and never have to worry about money again.

Priest visits his mentor Scatter who took him in when he was but a young lad, but showed a lot of promise, and they have been firm friends ever since. Scatter now runs a 'legitimate' mixed martial arts and kickboxing gym, whilst running coke on the side. Priest attempts to convince Scatter to give him a greater slice of the pie and to divulge his source in attempt to build his empire and establish connections much further afield. Scatter is however, nonchalant about Priest's motives and declines. Priest and Eddie follow Scatter as he drives the long journey from Atlanta down to El Paso, where the pair spy Scatter having a roadside conversation with a shady looking Mexican type watched over by several heavily armed goons. The meeting is brief and they part company. Priest and Eddie follow the Mexicans car as it crosses the border into Mexico and parks up behind a busy street market.

Priest orders Eddie to keep the motor running, to wait and he'll be back soon. As Priest goes on foot stealthily searching out his quarry, he rounds a truck to come face to face with a loaded weapon, and the Mexican head honcho Adalberto Gonzalez (Esai Morales), whose henchmen bind and blindfold him, and bundle their captive into a private jet. Flying high above Mexico, Gonzalez questions Priest and threatens the worst when satisfactory answers are not forthcoming. Priest maintains his cool, and starts up a conversation about the Mexican Soccer Team about which they are both knowledgeable and passionate. Priest then starts on about the matriarch of the family, Gonzalez mother, and how his brother is languishing in some Mexican jail courtesy of Gonzalez who put his elder sibling away for the good of the family. As a result of Priest's fast talking he is spared from being thrown out of the plane at 20,000 feet, and instead strikes up a deal with his new supplier to move three times the quantity of coke that Scatter was moving. Priest though has to come up with the front money to pay for his first consignment, which he is able to do.

Gonzalez releases Priest, and he meets up with Eddie some hours later, and explains what went down. The pair are now in the big league and back home in Atlanta the first consignment of packaged cocaine in five kilo bags makes its way across the border and into Priest's hands. Expanding his distribution network through close business associates, Priest and Eddie are quickly counting more money than they know what to do with. They celebrate with a party at their house to thank their colleagues.

On the way home one of Priest's cohorts, Racks (Rick Ross) is getting up to some front seat shenanigans with a certain lady. They are spied by a passing Police patrol car, who pulls them over. Looking in the trunk of the car, the Police Officer Turk Franklin (Brian Durkin) uncovers a five kilo bag of cocaine. But rather than haul their asses in, he drives them to rendezvous with Detective Mason (Jennifer Morrison) who questions the pair about their supplier and who is behind the organisation. Racks remains silent but when a gun is pointed at his head, his lady friend blurts out Priest. Neither Franklin nor Mason had heard of Priest before, but now, he is firmly on their radar. Racks and his girl are returned to their car and told to go about their business. They drive off, and seconds later are pulled over once again by Franklin. This time he plugs both with several rounds of bullets killing them both, all under the fictionalised auspices that they were armed and had intended to shoot first. The shooting is beamed across the news channels and Franklin is hailed a hero for acting in self defence and bringing down a drug king-pin.

The next day Priest and Eddie are paid a visit by Mason and Franklin who want in on their action 50/50, plus a good will down payment of one million dollars to be collected by the end of the week. Reluctantly Priest agrees. Eddie is mortified. The pair fight out of frustration with the situation and Eddie's lack of faith now in his long term partner. They go their separate ways. Immediately following Racks funeral, Mason and Franklin pull up in their car, and Priest hands over a stash of cash amounting to a million bucks. Meanwhile, Eddie ordered a hit on Snow Patrol without Priest's knowledge. Several of Snow Patrol's goons are killed in the barber shop where they all congregated. Juju narrowly escaped and swore vengeance on Priest. Q now is also convinced that Priest was behind the hit.

Later, Scatter realises that Priest has betrayed him and has muscled in on his supply chain and is none too pleased. He takes him to meet up with Gonzalez, hoping for a reconciliation, but the Mexican drug lord has other plans. He shoots Scatter dead saying that he was small time compared to Priest and that he was skimming a little off the top every month for many years hoping that Gonzalez wouldn't notice. But he did, and Scatter paid the price for his betrayal. Gonzalez also says that he had heard that Priest was looking to get out, a fact that Priest denies to remain in favour for the time being. Priest remains calm, but lets rip with his emotions when he is alone again in his car.

And so, Priest has formed an unfriendly alliance with two crooked cops; his Mexican supply chain has killed his long term mentor and has said that he can never leave the business; a rival gang is hot on his tail trying to rub him out; and he has fought with his best buddy and business partner. It looks like Priest's world is about to come crashing down on him. But Priest is Superfly, street smart, fast talking, quick thinking, well connected, level headed and always has a plan, and of course, needless to say it all comes out sunshine and rainbows for the Superfly guy in the end. He and Georgia relax on the back of a yacht sailing into the sunset somewhere off Montenegro, while Eddie is back in Atlanta having made up his differences with Priest, doing what he does best.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Priest is a likeable rogue, a career criminal who really doesn't know any different but knows his limits and how to play the game. He is a Superfly superhero - after all he can dodge a bullet, has remained off the radar of the authorities his entire life, is successful, wealthy, drives a fast car, has the bling, is fast talking, quick witted, street smart, sharp dressed, can handle himself amiably, cares about his posse, has two live in girlfriends on the go at once who just happen to be best mates too and has the most perfectly coiffed inky black straightened hair style that you have ever seen. His life is practically perfect in every respect, and this is where any sense of realism flies out the door, in favour of a more glitzy extended pop music video look and feel that Director X is more renowned for. The plot is full of twists and turns and stylised action that we have seen a thousand times before, backed up by gangsta dialogue at which you need to strain to decipher and a gloss that paints over the underbelly of the metropolis that captivates the interest but leaves you feeling ho-hum at the end.

'Superfly' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 9th August 2018.

With 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' which was released just last week rapidly raking in the Box Office dollars across the world and having been hailed as the best in the series so far, and some even going so far to rate the film as one of the best action movies of all time, I thought this an appropriate time to review the franchise to date. So, in case you're not up to speed with the previous five instalments, here is a quick synopsis, ahead of this weeks Previews, which as usual are given further below :

* 'Mission : Impossible' - released 1996, Directed by Brian de Palma, Produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vanessa Redgrave. Production Budget costs US$80M, Worldwide Box Office take US$458M. Ethan Hunt is framed for the murder of his fellow IMF agents during a Prague Embassy mission gone wrong and falsely accused of selling government secrets to a mysterious international criminal known only as 'Max'.



* 'Mission : Impossible II' - released 2000, Directed by John Woo, Produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Dougray Scott, Dominic Purcell, Thandie Newton, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Roxburgh and Anthony Hopkins. Production Budget costs US$125M, Worldwide Box Office take US$547M. Ethan Hunt sends international thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall undercover to stop rogue IMF agent, and Nyah's former lover, Sean Ambrose from stealing a deadly virus to start a pandemic and sell the antidote to the highest bidder.

* 'Mission : Impossible III' - released 2006, Directed by J.J. Abrams, Produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Aaron Paul, Maggie Q, Laurence Fishburn, Eddie Marsan and Michelle Monaghan. Production Budget costs US$150M, Worldwide Box Office take US$398M. Ethan Hunt, retired from being an IMF team leader and engaged to be married, assembles a team to face the elusive arms and information broker Owen Davian who intends to sell a mysterious dangerous object known as 'The Rabbit's Foot'.

* 'Mission : Impossible - Ghost Protocol' - released 2011, Directed by Brad Bird, Produced by Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk, and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist, Tom Wilkinson and Lea Seydoux. Production Budget costs US$145M, Worldwide Box Office take US$695M. Ethan Hunt and the entire IMF are blamed for the bombing of the Kremlin while investigating an individual known only as 'Cobalt'. He and three other agents are left to stop him from starting a global nuclear war.



* 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation' - released 2015, Directed and Written by Christopher McQuarrie, Produced by Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Sean Harris, Tom Hollander, Rebecca Fergusson and Alec Baldwin. Production Budget costs US$150M, Worldwide Box Office take US$683M. Ethan Hunt comes under threat from the 'Syndicate', a near-mythical organisation of rogue agents who kill to order. Faced with the IMF's disbandment, Hunt assembles his team for their mission to prove the Syndicate's existence and bring the organisation down by any means necessary.

* 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' - released 2018, Directed and Written by Christopher McQuarrie, Produced by Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, Jake Myers and J.J. Abrams and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris, Rebecca Fergusson, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby and Michelle Monaghan. Production Budget costs US$178M, Worldwide Box Office take so far US$334M. When an IMF mission ends badly, the world is faced with dire consequences. As Ethan Hunt takes it upon himself to deliver on his original briefing, the CIA begins to question his loyalty and his motives.

This week we have four new feature films coming to your local Odeon that kick off with a remake of a blaxploitation crime drama film from the early '70's probably best known for its soundtrack back then, but which has been dusted off and given the 21st Century treatment for a whole new audience. We then turn to an action comedy about two hapless girlfriends who somehow get caught up in an international conspiracy and get chased half way around the world dodging bullets, nasty criminal types and corrupt cops in their attempt to save the world from a fate worse than this film. Next up is a British period piece of one young couple who have a less than satisfying wedding night which ultimately has lifelong lasting repercussions on them both; and we then wind up with a sequel to a found footage horror film about a laptop, a group of friends, and things that go bump in the night with terrifying consequences for them all.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'SUPERFLY' (Rated MA15+) - here we have a remake of the 1972 Blaxploitation action crime drama film of the same name, this time Directed by Director X (aka Julien Christian Lutz). This Canadian film and music video Director has been shooting music videos since 1998, but this is only his third outing helming a feature film since 'Across the Line' in 2015 and 'Centre Stage : On Pointe' in 2016. Released in the US in mid-June, the film cost US$16M to make, has so far grossed US$21M and has garnered generally mixed or average Reviews.

Cocaine kingpin Youngblood Priest (Trevor Jackson) comes to the realisation that it's time to exit the game after surviving a violent attack from a crazed rival. Hoping for one last score, so that he can retire to the good life, Priest and his partner travel down Mexico way to arrange a deal. The career criminal now finds himself trying to out run and out smart the local cartel, a pair of corrupt Police officers, a betrayed supplier and all them pesky double-crossing no-good criminal types who want his piece of the action that threaten his road to peace and freedom. The film also stars Jason Mitchell, Michael Kenneth Williams, Lex Scott Davis, Jacob Ming-Trent and Jennifer Morrison.

'THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME' (Rated MA15+) - channeling the great Mike Meyers (aka one Austin Powers), here we have an all girl line up in this riff on that action comedy offering as Directed and Co-Written by Susanna Fogel in only her second feature film outing after 2014's 'Life Partners'. The film stars Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as Audrey and Morgan respectively as two thirty-something best friends living the quiet life in LA. The pair of besties find themselves caught up in no uncertain terms in a major international conspiracy when Audrey's ex-boyfriend unexpectedly re-emerges in her life chased down by a team of deadly assassins hot on his tail, while it emerges that he actually works for the CIA as an Agent. The dynamic duo suddenly spring into action and chase half way across Europe trying to evade those pesky assassin types and a charming British Agent all the while trying to save the world. Also starring Justin Theroux, Gillian Anderson and Paul Reiser. Sound like a laugh a minute!

'ON CHESIL BEACH' (Rated M) - this British drama film is helmed by first time Director of a feature length film Dominic Cooke, and was adapted for the screen by the author of the 2007 book of the same name Ian McEwan. The film received its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year and was released both in the UK and the USA in mid-May, has received generally favourable Reviews and has so far taken US$2.5M at the Box Office. Set in 1962, the film tells the story of newlyweds Edward (Billy Howle) and Florence (Saoirse Ronan), both in their early 20's and also both virgins. They spend their honeymoon preoccupied and terrified by the prospect of consummating their marriage, which as a disastrous first attempt at sex and their differing reactions to that initial failed experience has lasting lifelong impacts for them both. Also starring Emily Watson and Anne-Marie Duff.

'UNFRIENDED : DARK WEB' (Rated MA15+) - this 'found footage' horror offering is Written and Directed by Stephen Succo in his first feature length Directorial outing, despite the fact that he has Written and Produced such horror films as 'The Grudge', 'The Grudge 2', 'Texas Chainsaw 3D', 'The Possession' and 'Beyond the Reach'. This film is a stand-alone follow-up to 2014's like minded found footage supernatural horror 'Unfriended' which off a Budget of US$1M grossed US$64M at the Box Office. Here, a young man jumps online to play a game with five of his good friends on a laptop he came by in lost property that has remained unclaimed for some months. He shows them a mysterious folder that he came across while checking out his new device that plays disturbing videos of people who appear to be in danger accessed via the Dark Web. While viewing some of the disturbing scenes from that folder, the group receive an anonymous message that tells them they will all die if they disconnect, or call the Police. Their planned night of fun rapidly turns deadly as each user becomes the target of something sinister, while the others watch helplessly in terror. The film Premiered at SXSW back in March, cost US$1M and since its release in the US on the 20th July, has so far taken US$9M, and has received mixed or average Reviews.

With four new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-