Different time, same story
Superfly remake shows how much — and how little — things have changed
When the original Super Fly opened in 1972, its strong storyline and mostly black cast and crew helped kick-start the Blaxploitation genre.
Since then, much has changed — not enough, to be sure, and some of it the wrong way, but change nonetheless. And so the modern remake (all one word this time), appearing after such hit films as Moonlight, Straight Outta Compton, Girls Trip, Get Out and Black Panther, feels like a bit of a throwback. It’s not exactly a nostalgia trip — maybe an escapist excursion. Certainly there’s a lot more violence this time out, and a much less ambiguous ending.
Trevor Jackson steps up to the role of Youngblood Priest, dealing cocaine on the rough streets of Atlanta. (Harlem in the original.) Soft-spoken and slim, he ambles into a club in the opening scene, where I briefly mistake him for a minor character, all style and no substance.
But Jackson knows exactly
what he’s doing as Priest, a man you underestimate at your peril. He is tough but fair, neither prone to violence nor a pacifist. Priest wants out of the game, which in this case means first going deeper into it. He figures if he can amp up his dealing enough, he can earn enough money in a short while to walk away and not look back. Helping him out are his chief lieutenant Eddie (Jason Mitchell) and girlfriends Georgia (Lex Scott Davis) and Cynthia (Andrea Londo).
But there are far more obstacles, starting with Juju (Kaalan Walker), hottest-blooded member of rival gang Snow Patrol, who dress, drive and deal in nothing but white stuff.
Superfly is the newest from Toronto-born Director X, who has mostly worked in TV and music videos but also made the 2015 Canadian drama Across the Line, set in Nova Scotia. He’s got a much bigger canvas (and budget) to work with here, which he employs with mixed results.
He’s actually at his best in the quieter scenes, which showcase Jackson’s fantastic but understated performance.
The notion of a coke dealer with a heart of gold may strike some viewers as a little too simplistic. I was less troubled by such moral ambiguity than with the screenplay’s remarkably tidy ending. But the cast made the trip worthwhile. I’ll confess, I couldn’t take my eyes off Priest.