Superfly 
                                           
Director: Director X
Year: 2018
Rating: 6.0
Does Blaxploitation still work some fifty years after its heyday? Even back in the day it received a lot of criticism from African-American groups for its negative portrayal of blacks as all criminals and drug users. In this remake of one of the genre classics that starred Ron O'Neal, all those same portrayals are still present but amped up considerably. It sticks with the plot more than I would have expected but it is way more violent (I was surprised by how little violence there was in the original) and action oriented with a larger budget to put on the ritz and glitz. Everyone is a player with lovely ladies hanging on them like Christmas decorations on a tree. The strip clubs are filled with guys raining money down on the girls. Big cars and huge homes. Not real discreet.



That takes away much of the power of the first film. That was ghetto. You understood why these characters were dealing drugs. If you were black, that was one of the few options you had. You knew it was likely going to be a short trip that would end in death or jail but you were so desperate that you took a chance. But no one was living like millionaires. Here the locale is moved to Atlanta and it is given a slick, spiffy glossy New South look. As is Priest now played by Trevor Jackson who is much too young and pretty for the role. Not a mark on him and his hair piled up like Marie Antoniette. One character asks if he is trying to look like Morris Day and Priest replies "who?" Ah, the younger generation. Never even seen Purple Rain.



Things are going well. Making lots of cocaine money, two beautiful women who don't mind sharing him - at the same time. He and his partner Eddie (Jason Mitchell) have stayed under the radar from the cops living the good life. But Priest wants to get out. One more big score and he is through. But that brings unwanted attention from crooked cops and another gang who dress in white fur coats. He has to deal now as well with the cartels (Esai Morales) and his crazy psychopath of a mother. Now life is shitting on him. And he has to figure a way out. A lot of the scenes feel like music videos which isn't surprising since the director, Director X, has made many of them. Everything looks so good - too good for an Old School guy like me - but maybe this is how it is now. Looks like fun. The action is well done and the plot feels like a boa slowly closing in.



They squeeze in two of Curtis Mayfield's songs - Pusherman and Super Fly but of course the musical highlight is the first song - maybe by Irving Berlin - in which the rapper goes "Muther Fucking bitch. Muther fucking bitch. Muther fucking bitch." I like a song in which I can remember the lyrics.