You know when something has all of the potential and all of the hype to just be really, really fantastic??? And then it just totally misses the mark? Well, that’s a pretty good summation of “Code 8”.  As a serious fan of the Amell boys, ( I mean I stuck it out for the last two crummy seasons of Arrow AND watched the only season of The Tomorrow People), I was really psyched to see that Stephen and Robbie (the hottie cousins) were making a movie together!  I am also a huge X-Men fan, so hearing that it was a movie about people with abilities made it sound even more exciting!  I was thrilled when it finally made its way to Streaming and I could watch it.  Especially during a Pandemic, what could be better???  Anything.  Turns out that honestly anything could have been better than this movie.  It pains me to be such a harsh critic of two of my favorite young actors, but that’s the truth.

Now Stephen and Robbie did not act poorly.  Let’s be up front about that!  Their acting chops were pretty decent.  But the entire story line, script and premise of the movie just sucked. Can we say sucked in a formal review?  I’m resorting to that term, because all other words to describe the movie are vulgar.  The plot literally went nowhere.  The script was inane and full of way too many profanities where there could have been clever dialogue.  The action was poor and dismissive.  And the ending didn’t really give us closure wither way.  Nothing was truly resolved, and it kind of tries to set up for a sequel, which is silly because it was so poorly done that we all know there is zero chance any such sequel will ever happen.

In this new time that we find ourselves living with countless streaming services, and now major releases being sent directly to an online purchase, the caliber of our film-making simply has to improve.  There is no longer room for shoddy, lack-luster script writing or story telling in a world where there are literally thousands of other choices to be streamed at almost any moment. It will be interesting to see what happens in this new time–if more drivel is still commissioned or if we begin to demand more of real substance in the realm of fantasy in movies.  Again, I don’t fault the acting of the Amell brothers (yes I am still a little biased toward them!).  But since both Stephen and Robbie are listed as producers on this film as well, I do have to comment on their poor production skills.  Most of the characters are very flat and one-dimensional.  The relationships between the people don’t ever seem to evolve or even be authentic.  Picture all of the bad elements from the failed tv series “The Inhumans” and “The Gifted”, set in a robot-policed society where people only know how to say versions of the “F-word”, and that’s pretty much all it is.

Hopefully their future endeavors fare better than this one!