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June 20, 2018 The Skanner Page 7 Arts & Entertainment FILM REVIEW: Trevor Jackson Plays Iconic Title Character in Stylized Remake of ‘Superfly’ By Kam Williams For The Skanner News “S uper Fly” (1972) was one of the most profitable of the Blaxploi- tation-era flicks. Re- leased during the genre’s heyday, the picture re- volved around its iconic title character, Young- blood Priest, a flamboy- ant cocaine dealer who dressed like a pimp, drove flashy cars and sampled his wares from a spoon shaped like a cross draped around his neck. Overcoming a modest budget of just a half-mil- lion dollars, the film’s phenomenal box-office success led to a couple of sequels, (“Super Fly T.N.T.” (1973) and “The Return of Superfly” (1990). Nevertheless, the franchise is probably best remembered for the “ Given its woeful produc- tion val- ues, “Su- per Fly” is a movie almost begging to be remade original’s soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield which enjoyed a long run at #1 atop Billboard’s Top 100 chart. Given its woeful pro- duction values, “Super Fly” is a movie almost begging to be remade. And 2.0 represents an upgrade which does not disappoint in that regard. As overhauled by Julien Christian Lutz (aka Di- rector X), the highly-styl- ized production bears a greater resemblance to McG’s frenetically-paced “Charlie’s Angels” (2000) and Baz Luhrmann’s de- cidedly-decadent inter- pretation of “The Great Gatsby” (2013) than to any blaxploits made back in the 1070s. The setting has been shifted to Atlanta, but the basic plotline is oth- Incredibles cont’d from pg 6 ro Lucius Best/Frozone. Noteworthy additions to the ensemble include Catherine Keener, Isa- bella Rossellini and Bob Odenkirk. The picture picks up precisely where the first left off. Jack Jack is still a toddler, but learning to harness the superpow- ers that had just start- ed to manifest towards the end of the previous episode. At the point of departure, we find the “ Might someone else be behind a wider dia- bolical plot to hypno- tize all of humanity? Parrs being forced into retirement by a govern- ment agent (Jonathan Banks) because of the costly collateral damage of their last operation. Of course, that doesn’t last long. Helen is soon coaxed back into her stretchy superhero suit by a rich fan (Oden- kirk) for a photo op de- signed to resurrect her disgraced clan’s image. The impromptu sex role reversal has Bob stay- ing home to assume the child-rearing and domes- tic duties. Next thing you know, Helen is further re- cruited to subdue Screenslaver (Bill Wise), a pizza delivery guy- turned-hacker who has started hijacking peo- ple’s computer screens. Might someone else be behind a wider diaboli- cal plot to hypnotize all of humanity? If so, that might call for the rest of the Parrs to morph into their superhero alter egos and join the fight. What ensues is anoth- er visually-captivating, dizzying delight for young and old alike. Pix- ar and Disney have done it again! Excellent HHHH Rated PG for action and brief mild epithets Running time: 118 min. Production Studios: Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures Trevor Jackson (of TV’s “Grown-ish”) stars in ‘Superfly’ erwise faithful to the source material. The blow-by-blow is narrated by the picture’s protag- onist, played with per- fect aplomb by Trevor Jackson (of TV’s “Grown- ish”). At the point of de- parture, a beleaguered Priest informs us via voice-over that he’s been selling drugs on the street since the age of 11. He now sits atop a gang caught up in an escalating bloody turf war marked by drive- by shootings with a flashy posse called the Snow Patrol. U n d e r s t a n d a b l y, Priest wants out of the game, but first he has to do a bigger deal than he’s ever attempt- ed before. That in- volves going over the View movie trailers at TheSkanner.com head of his supplier Scat- ter (Michael Kenneth Williams) and securing a huge shipment of nar- cotics directly from the South American cartel kingpin, Adalberto Gon- zales (Esai Morales). Somehow Lutz, a vet- eran director of music videos, manages to ma- nipulate the audience into rooting for the sort of unsavory characters you’d cross the street to avoid in real life. Listen, the cinema has a long history of championing ruthless lawbreakers like Bonnie and Clyde, the Godfather and more recently, the “Ocean’s 8” crew. The upshot: this in- carnation of Superfly proves to be a riveting, slick and pulse-pound- ing reboot that easily blows away the original! Excellent HHHH Rated R for pervasive profanity, graphic sex- uality, violence, ethnic slurs, nudity and drug use Running time:108 min- utes Production Studios: Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment / Silver Pictures Distributor: Columbia Pictures
