Technology

Code 8 review: A crime and sci-fi mash-up that's actually pretty good

Code 8, a film about people with special powers that have been shunned by the world, is both a cracking crime caper and a comment on society, says Simon Ings

By Simon Ings

6 May 2020

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine. — VERTICAL ENTERTAINMENT

Code 8

Jeff Chan

Available on Netflix

AROUND 4 per cent of humans are Special. Connor is one of them. Lightning shoots from his hands. His mother is Special, too. She freezes things, including – since a tumour began pressing on her brain – patches of her own skin. Connor needs money to save his mother. And, since Specials have been pushed to the social margins, this means he needs to rob a bank.

Code 8′s director, Jeff Chan, is a relative newcomer whose screenplays co-written with producer Chris Pare fold well-trodden movie ideas into interesting shapes. Grace: The Possession…