User reviews

Code 8 is a decent enough film, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was worth skipping by, superhero builders and drugs taken from people's body bits, but it really isn't bad.

Some nice ideas and some good special effects, it's not a huge budget film, but somehow they make it work. Don't expect Marvel, and don't expect Breaking Bad, but do expect a few interesting moments. Every single cliche under the sun is here, there's not a huge amount of originality, but enjoy it for what it is.

I wonder if those that have given this 1 and 10 star reviews have actually seen this, those I've read with such extreme scores do not relate to this movie.

Decent acting, Robbie Amell will of course have his fans, 6/10.

It's pretty good movie. I like the story. Acting was pretty much convincing. Special effects are awesome. For low budget production, it's excellent sci-fi movie. Definitely it's worth of your time.

It's nice to see a film about superpowers be about "normal" people, about the choices they have to make to live their lives. A solid story, good characters, good acting and very well done special effects make this film well worth watching.

Worth watching for a decent mashup of Sci-Fi and Heist genres. Some all-too-convenient plot devices abound along with the now-familiar premise of powered people being discriminated against. It had a chance to be very good and instead was just decent, but I'll watch a decent Sci-Fi flick any time.

Code 8

It is obvious that this Indie Sci-Fi from Director Jeff Chan takes inspiration from the X Men franchise but it also has a Neill Blomkamp vibe. Set in a world where some humans have extraordinary gifts. These powered individuals live in poverty. Their gifts are more of a burden and anyone caught using their special abilities must answer to the law. A powered construction worker played by Robbie Amell falls in with a criminal gang when he desperately needs to raise money for his sick mother.

As aforementioned this film is heavily influenced by the X Men movies but it does have its own unique premise. Sadly the execution of this premise is slightly lacking. Performances by all are commendable. The audience will grow to care for what happens to those onscreen due to some decent acting. However this story would have been better told as a TV series rather than a 1hr 38min movie. The world which is created onscreen is one that can be expanded upon. An episodic TV show would have allowed the created universe and characters to flourish. I have read somewhere that Robbie and Co-star Stephen Amell are actually developing a continuation for the small screen.

Considering that this films production budget was crowd funded and was only a measly $2.1 million the special effects are really quite impressive. This is where the Neill Blomkamp vibe becomes apparent. The robotic police officers in the movie reminded me of the robot designs in 'Elysium' or perhaps 'Chappie'. But it is painfully obvious that it is just a man in a suit rather than a CGI creation. This is where budget constraints are visible. Still the aerial shots of the drones deploying the robots was rather cool. This is a film that does punch above its weight in terms of the visuals effects.

'Code 8' is certainly worth checking out. It's probably a movie that won't linger in the memory banks for long but the expansion of the universe created by this film in the form of a TV show would be most welcome.

I think a few reviewers might have been disappointed that this wasn't the kind of vibe you'd normally associate with the Super Hero genre.

This is well made, scripted and acted with a dark, dystopian near-alternate future as its background.

If you're looking for a darker approach with a little moral ambiguity you might enjoy this more than you expected to. Think "crime thriller" rather than supers.

I will start out by saying that the movie is not great, but I can also say that it doesn't deserve as much flack as it's getting. A thing some have been talking about was that it doesn't add anything new and while it is true, I also don't think it needs to. The movie is enjoyable to watch and it definitely had potential. My complaint with this movie is with the characters. The characters have little to no development or depth. Again I want to restate that it's not a bad movie, at points, you can feel as if the characters could be real people and connect with them. However these moments are cliche and very few. At it's worst, the movie will throw ideas in the air and never come back to them. Special effects are very well done and don't let down. The plot was generic but still enjoyable. Overall, this movie is good for casual audiences and people that just wanna sit down and turn off their brain for an hour after a long day. If you want something with a lot more to offer than this then I wouldn't recommend watching this movie.

It is a passable movie with good looking, made for TV, leads and reasonable effects. That said, my guess is that was intended to be a pilot for a TV series and they changed their mind at the last minute, hence the crappy ending.

First I gotta say , After almost 8 years, It is kinda hard looking at Stephen Amell as anything but Arrow :D :D I don't know ,, even his role here you can see The Arrow's personality is all over him.

So the plot of the movie is fresh and genuine, connected at most of the time and easily followable ,, I wouldn't say it is like the best thing there is on the big screen, but as I said it is enjoyable... and the VFX were simple but precise and good.

The cast were mostly good, love Stephen and Robbie Amell, they always engage with their roles to the fullest and end up giving their absolute best.

The movie is good, Recommended.

Actually okay - but definately a one-timer. Nice effects.

Code 8 is a mix of Blade Runner (for the music style and the image texture and color) and X-Men for the scenario. It's a very good movie. It's a little bit like if the director and the producers said « ok teenagers have the X-Men saga, let's do something around the same idea but for adults ». The are no jaw dropping special effects, mutants (called "person with abilities" in the movie) dont do funky stuff.. every body acts great.. it's the kind of sci-fi movie that will very likely go unnoticed and it's a shame, it deserves much much more.

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A ~{ Micro }~ review .

This is probably the best use of an Operating-budget that was ( based on ALL the information that I could find after a fairly exhaustive search - something in " the likely neighbourhood " of - ) USD 1.725 Million ....... that I've seen in a long, long time . Spearheaded by the actor-producer team of Real Life cousins Robbie Amell & Stephen Amell ..( TV's "Firestorm" & "The Green Arrow", respectively )... & helmed by the extraordinarily talented relative newcomer Jeff Chan, this picture grips you from the start, & keeps you on the edge of your seat right the way thru ; not by way of Multi-million dollar special effects, but by getting you ~{ Deeply }~ - invested in the humanity of its Lead-protagonists. I must confess that I found the ending a tad bit abrupt... but reveling in the GENUINELY Flawed { & thereby -( Thoroughly )- Believable } nature of said characters ..helped ( s o m e w h a t ) , in making up for that particular shortcoming .

It May - W e l l - Hold Its own With The " Big Boys " { Meaning Its Contemporaneous -( And ' Huge ' )- Cinematic Releases } . . . . . A Wholehearted 7.25 Marks Out Of 10 👊❗.

Well i do admit its direct to video quality with mostly actors in series, the effects where quit good but the movie falls short at some point becomes way to dramatic that kind of killed it for me....

An ok way to pass the time but very forgettable movie.

It's Dec 2019 and I can safely count on both hands films that I've thoroughly enjoyed this year and Code 8 is one of the them. Mid budget Scfi drama at its best. Watchable once and maybe again a year or two from now. A definite go.

"Code 8" is quite the indie success, it was heavily crowd-funded (2.1 million in kickstarter) and it seems to me no backer was let down. While presenting a story consisting of rather familiar arcs and themes, it's still packed tightly and driven forward by decent characters, good acting & well done special FX. It reminded me of the very recent indie feature "Freaks" - both of these movies deal with the x-men-esque story about humans with abilities & their trials and tribulations in the common world. Both movies are solid.

"Code 8" is a tale about Connor Reed (Robbie Amell), a man with certain abilities, living in a world where people like him are being suppressed. The desperation created by the circumstances around him drive him to risk his life and safety to make money, and so the many endeavours ensue. As I previously mentioned, the story is built of arcs and themes which are routine enough, but "Code 8" has a lot to compensate with. For starters, the (also familiar) characters are delivered by a cast of great actors, including the Amell cousins, Greg Byrk as the villain, Sunk Kang - whom I hadn't seen for a long time, and a likely overlooked performance by Kyla Kane. The most valued possession of "Code 8" is probably the special FX, cinematography and production design. For a movie of this budget it looks admirably awesome, the style is on-point and contained, no overkills, no on-the-noise cheap frames or visual solutions, might as well be a big-screen flick. Sound design's up there as well.

"Code 8" is like a humbler, more focused indie "X-men", a solid directional effort in the sci-fi genre that's not by any means flawless, but delivers most of what it promises. Personally, the one thing I disliked the most was the too conventional type of ending, a more extra ordinary last note would've been nice. I recommend "Code 8" to all the sci-fi lovers out there. My rating: 7/10.

In a near future, the construction worker Conner Reed (Robbie Amell) has abilities that are forbidden by the government. When his work is stopped by the police, he accepts to work to the gangsters Garrett (Stephen Amell) and his boss Marcus Sutcliffe (Greg Bryk) to raise money to his mother that is terminal.

"Code 8" is a watchable film in a future environment but absolutely predictable. The plot uses the usual clichés of the crime genre. The sci-fi and the abilities are only to disguise. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Code 8: Renegados" ("Code 8: Renegades")

Note: On 13 April 2024, I saw this film again.

The movie itself was reasonable for action, story etc, but the start "event story" was rushed too fast, making it it hard to follow the premise of the movie/story. Secondly, with only 1 hour 25 minutes of movie and a whopping 10 minutes of credits at the end was a bit unfinished. It needed to be another 30 minutes longer.... Unless this is a pilot for a possible series.

Those people have literally GOD-like abilities. There is no way they would be marginalized like this. Everytime we meet a new character, I kept thinking "Any police or military special force or any spy agency in the world would kill to have this dude on their team". But no. Of course they built this country and we treat them like scum. The message is as subtle as in a Jordan Peele movie.

Ending is dull. I mean, Stephen King level ending.

The special effects and acting are decent. It's a decent flick when you're bored on a rainy weekend, but don't expect more. Don't be ashamed to do something else while watching.

With a low budget (almost entirely supplied by the fans), Code 8 does a nice job of feeling bigger than the money behind the camera. The Amell cousins have been wanting to do this movie for years, and even debuted the short film during the H&V Chicago Comic Con I attended back in 2016, and you can clearly see the passion, blood, sweat and tears behind the production. It's not overly original nor is it really trying to be. But if you're looking for a laid back action sci-fi, there are far worse choices than Code 8.

7.0/10

Nothing new, a mix of superhero genre, a not so subtle metaphor for racism and segregatiom, a bit of heist, and a really non-end ending. Too slow for an action movie, too dumb for anything else. There will be nothing that you haven't seen somewhere else, and even if this is the first time the same ingredients have been used in this exact mix, the whole does not amount to anything more than the sum of its parts. You won't miss anything if you skip this movie. You'll probably miss that 90 minutes if you don't skip it.

Im not an arrow fan but still i enjoyed this movie, great main actor and in general i like the acting from the main cast. i know this movie was sort of crowdfunded and had a modest budget, suprisingly enough you barely notice its low budget, they really got the maximum out of it. i give this movie a rating of 8 because i watched so many recent scifi-movies that had much bigger budget and big names attached to it that wherent even half as entertaining as this one.

Waste of time don't get how some people give this an 8 star rating if you do watch this be sure to have crackers and wine there's plenty of cheese in this movie

I don't usually write reviews because I doubt their credibility (yes I'm referring to the fake ones) as well because tastes differ. However, as far as facts go from my perspective, they are as follows: plot - 6/10, you've seen it before but still interested in the caracter's choises acting - 9/10, no big names yet characters believable action - 9/10, would throw in the last star if there was an extra action scene, but don't be fooled is a slow movie, it's just not avengers level cgi - 9/10, amazing how humble effects placed appropriately can go a long way romance - 2/10, slight potential but not a date movie setting - 8/10, well built world, would love to expand it with another movie perhaps Overall, don't be distracted by the relatively unfamiliar faces and lack of marketing, this is an entertaining movie worth you time.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Amell's , the movie is not bad but the ending is Really really BAD! It's like the writers had no more ideas. Acting is not bad, special effects are really good though.