Code 8 is a ninety-eight minute movie starring The Tomorrow People’s and first Firestorm Robbie Amell with Arrow’s star and Robbie’s real life cousin Stephen Amell in a lead supporting role as power enabled people in a world where using your powers is illegal without a permit. Desperate for money, decent powered people are forced to enter the criminal underworld to survive. Will Connor, the protagonist, remain compassionate or give in to the temptation of power and develop a thirst for violence and revenge against an unfair world?

If you are looking for an entertaining heist film with some bells and whistles, Code 8 is streaming on Netflix. Instead of powered people being heralded as superheroes or loftily contemplating the destiny of those without powers, coexist or dominate, powered people are discriminated against like anyone with despised immutable characteristics. Machines rendered these blue-collar workers redundant in a fictional city called Lincoln City and modelled after Detroit, but shot in Toronto, which duh. Most normal people treat them as if they were undocumented workers, and cops extrajudicially execute them. The first three minutes of the film mimic expository documentaries and news footage to orient the viewers before introducing us to our protagonist, which I considered a promising start. The film never returns to that format though we occasionally get a glimpse of a news broadcast.

Code 8 uses the powers to jazz up an almost laughably trite and basic storyline. Son wants to save his sick mom. He is the everyman that the viewer is supposed to relate to as he learns about how to use his powers, who the movers and shakers of a drug dealing operation, how to avoid the treachery within that organization and evade the police. Of course Connor is special and more powerful than even he knew and becomes exponentially more essential to the criminal operation because of his brain and brawn as the film progresses. As he gets pulled to the wrong side of the law, the film becomes a struggle for his soul. Because most of the actors are likeable and recognizable television actors, including Invasion’s Kari Matchett as the mom and Blindspot’s Aaron Abrams as a cop, instead of coming in with high expectations and being disappointed, it was exactly what I expected, and I was completely satisfied. It felt as if it was an extended pilot for a television series, which it may be.

If Code 8 had the same storyline without the powers, I would not have watched it. Learning about all the powers and seeing them in action got me on the hook and would keep me coming back. Initially I only thought there were three types of powers, but as the movie progresses, my initial impression was wrong. The action scenes were electrifying (you should groan, trust me). A lot of characters are on screen for a long time before we discover their power so it creates suspense, and excitement when it is revealed. The depiction of powers also appears organic and understated without looking cheap and laughable. Pay attention to the eyes!

It felt like John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum inspired elements of Code 8 even though it came out afterwards. There is an explicitly non-binary character who acts as an enforcer for the cartel, but is similarly as anticlimactic as the androgynous bodyguard in John Wick 2. Even though this film can only modestly mimic the neon aesthetic of the assassin world, it wisely saved its money to create a world of mechanical law enforcement, the Guardians, that felt more realistic to this movie’s world than other movies with a bigger budget. While the Guardians add a cool, futuristic element to the story, that development makes sense if it is a world similar to ours, but with powered people. Naturally the weapons would escalate too to even the scales.

Code 8 actually improves as it progresses because characters begin to zig instead of zag so there are Russian nesting dolls worth of overlapping storylines to keep us on our toes. The interlocking layers of ambition and treachery kept the proceedings jazzy so even though not entirely unexpected, when the fecal matter begins to hit the oscillating ventilator, the movie keeps up the pace until the end.

If I had to complain, it sometimes felt retroactively as if Code 8 introduced certain characters just to kill them, but they were originally supposed to have a more substantial role in the film, namely Arrow’s crew. The film featured some nice details when the criminal underworld was respectful and used appropriate terminology for people such as they regarding the non-binary character and chiding someone for unknowingly being insensitive to a disabled person. In the real world, persecuted people are not always so understanding of others’ differences and selfishly just want to be treated better. Instead the film primarily focused on the Amell cousins, who are the biggest names in the film.

Unsurprisingly the Amell cousins have good chemistry as coworkers with different sensibilities and at different stages in their power maturity. Initially it is a mentor mentee relationship that gradually develops into a partnership, but the film definitely leaves on a moment of unspoken ambiguity because the characters definitely diverge when it comes to morality and ambition. While they are not in conflict, Connor definitely seems as if he is the beginning of a new faction within the powered community—not a criminal, but not passing and hiding his light under a bushel.

I was surprised that Stephen’s character did not have more action scenes, but after eight years as Oliver Queen, maybe Stephen wanted to stop with the salmon ladders and have a less physically demanding role. To be fair, the fights are not highly choreographed, martial arts fights, but solid action moments. His character provides Code 8 with an opportunity to further explore the criminal hierarchy as he tries to move up the ladder. I would welcome more airtime for Peter Outerbridge, who plays a higher level heavy. I do not remember where I have seen him before, but he makes an excellent, cold bad guy, and I would love to know what his power is.

I actually was pleasantly surprised by Officer Park’s storyline though I should not have been. Think good cop, bad cop. If Code 8 gets a series, I can see his character expanding and having standalone storylines. The film also teased that drone pilots could be insubordinate wildcards against the powered people, which would make a great episode if a rogue pilot had to be stopped, and we could get a look at the people behind the helm.

I watched the original short film, which emphasized the socioeconomic factors as the beginning of Code 8 did, but there was no way to predict that it would become a crime action feature film instead of the traditional sci fi film with powered people versus regular people. The series could still go in that direction, which I would love even if it was just as predictable as this crime plight. If you are into CW television series, you will enjoy this film even if it is not that deep.