From the American dramas "Heroes" and "The Flash", to the movies "X-Men", "Out of Control" and "My Hero Academia", the stories of these superpowers will always attract me. This is probably because the supernatural powers satisfy the childlike innocence. In the beginning, super powers were always tied to the identity of heroes; later, some anti-hero super powers appeared on the screen. But no matter how creators deal with superpowers, we all know that superpowers are just an attractive "gimmick". The unique world and characters behind superpowers are what we want to understand. I just finished watching "Code 8" not long ago, so let's talk about this anti-hero super power movie.
(1) Plot and characters
The world view of "Code 8" is like this-on the eve of the industrial age, superpowers are popular workers, and their abilities are born. However, as machines replace workers, the potential safety hazards of superpowers have caused people to be vigilant, discriminated against, and squeezed. There are even new types of drugs made from spinal fluid of superpowers. The use of superpowers also requires an application. . The story of "Code 8" takes place in modern times. In order to treat a seriously ill mother, a powerful but impoverished superpower will not hesitate to rob the bank and the stolen goods seized by the police.
After watching the movie, I can only say that "Code 8" is a story of a robber dressed in a super power shell, and it did not satisfy the audience's expectations for a super power movie. If superpowers are changed to modern weapons, the logical framework of the story of "Code 8" will still work. When you regard "Code 8" as a story of robbers, you will find that its plot is actually quite ordinary. Both the main plot and the subplots only remain at the surface transition, lacking deeper conflicts.
In the main plot, the relationship between the protagonist and the criminal team members is basically unchanged, just like a passer-by; the confrontation between the protagonist and the police is just similar to the game clearance that must overcome the boss; the drug-trafficking criminal group that the protagonist finally confronted did not escalate the negative force. To another level. It can be said that the main plot has too many scenes and transitions that the audience sees too much, and it seems nothing new.
In the second plot, why did the protagonist’s father commit a crime in the first place? How does the protagonist view his father? How does the mother teach the protagonist since childhood? What kind of person is your mother? None of these suspense has been answered. Due to the insufficient content of the story, the length of the super-powered movie "Code 8" is less than 90 minutes, and it is not surprising that it is difficult to satisfy the audience.
In addition to the shortcomings in the plot, the characters in "Code 8" are basically flat. Although the movie adds the mother's sub-plot to enrich the protagonist's emotions, the protagonist still lacks the ability to act like a chess piece, and the desire and motivation are not further portrayed. For example, the mind reader feels the anger of the protagonist, which is the anger formed in the life of long-term discrimination, but this anger did not detonate in the movie.
The small crime team boss in the movie also conveyed various points of view while teaching the protagonist how to use his abilities. These views are basically abetting crimes, often focusing on personal desires. The protagonist gently did something bad and taught the shop owner who was unfriendly to his mother, but besides that, he did not do other bad things to satisfy his desires. In fact, "Code 8" tried hard to portray the protagonist into a kind and good person, and even downplayed his criminal mistakes. Moreover, the movie did not deepen the inner contradiction of the protagonist, after all, what he did was bad, and his heart was good.
It can be seen that the protagonist wants to work and live like ordinary people. If "Code 8" digs in this direction, makes the protagonist regard superpowers as a curse, and strengthens the protagonist's struggle between curses and nature, the story will be even more exciting. After all, the protagonist’s ability to release lightning, as well as the abilities of other superpowers, is basically based on destruction. "Destruction, anger" vs. "ordinary, good", which pushes the protagonist into a dilemma, and the story has great potential.
The characters other than the protagonist are more flattened, often just adding some settings. The people in the criminal group are basically chess-like roles, and the daughter of a policeman is a superpower. The situation of this role could be used to reflect the contradictions in the world, and it can indeed be reduced to a rigid police image. The mother of the protagonist also has great potential. It is not easy to stay kind in a world full of discriminatory eyes. Why does the mother of the protagonist have these characteristics? Knowing that the protagonist has committed a crime, can she act more aggressively?
In short, the plot and characters of "Code 8" are isolated and fragmented. It seems that there is no loophole in the plot logic, but it lacks internal relevance. To some extent, "Code 8" mistakenly regarded superpowers as a selling point instead of carefully polishing the story.
(2) Superpowers and worldview
Regarding the story of superpowers, what is most anticipated is "what impact will superpowers have?" Under the influence of super powers, watching the protagonist walk towards the hero step by step, this is the tried and tested frame of the heroic super power story. As for anti-hero super power movies, the development direction is more diversified.
One development direction is to focus on the impact of super powers on the protagonist’s personal life, such as "Super Power Out of Control" and "Time and Space Traveler". To a certain extent, "Code 8" and "Super Power Out of Control" are similar. Both films put their perspectives on the superpowers at the bottom, and both convey a kind of "Even with super powers, life will not Pessimism about what has fundamentally changed".
However, "Out of Control" is obviously better. The story focuses on the impact of superpowers on the protagonist’s life. In the second half of the film, the protagonist is forced from two aspects of friendship and family affection, which prompts the protagonist to take more crazy actions. . In "Code 8", the life of the protagonist is blank. Apart from basic information, we don’t know how superpowers affect the protagonist’s life, nor do we know how the protagonist gets along with family and friends. The life of the protagonist is so blank, how do you show the influence of superpowers on the protagonist?
Another direction of the anti-hero super power story is to start from the big picture, with ideas and groups as the core, and then show the impact of super powers on society. The "X-Men" series embeds racism in the story, making the story full of dramatic tension; "Black Robe Pickets" metaphors superpowers as the dark side of the social system, and builds a black worldview. These two series of stories have their own unique set of world views, and more possibilities have evolved with the choice of different characters.
"Code 8" begins with intensive and fragmented news to explain the worldview, but in fact, in the subsequent stories, this worldview has little influence, basically it is the police force that stays on the surface, new drugs and the like. However, "Code 8" does have its own set of world backgrounds, but it has not yet formed a unique world view. In "Code 8", superpowers first appeared on the eve of the industrial age. They were useful people in society; after machines replaced workers, superpowers became social cancers. I think there is a lot of storytelling to tap the potential at this change of concept.
Just imagine, the day before the social hero, the next day will become a social cancer, what will superpowers do under such drastic changes? Will people with superpowers protest and speak up and fight for their rights? Will the lives of the relatives and friends of superpowers change? When the media start to discredit superpowers with policy guidelines, will anyone complain about superpowers? Who can guarantee that their offspring will not be superpowers. If this happens, will the parents who originally denied the superpowers change? ...
The stories of superpowers in the old age are still rare, and there is much to do if they are combined with history. Even if you do not use the old times as the background of the story, just talk about the production of modern new drugs. What is the impact of the new drugs? Will anyone kidnap superpowers to make this kind of drug? If the police father's super-powered daughter disappears, and others discriminate against and exclude the super-powered and stand by, the helpless police father will do his best to pursue the daughter, only to find a darker truth. This is a bit similar to the story of "Hurricane Rescue", plus a unique worldview, isn't it interesting?
However, "Code 8" fluctuates in these two development directions, and it loses the other or both. On the one hand, "Code 8" wants to tell the impact of superpowers on life from a personal perspective, but it does not go further; on the other hand, "Code 8" wants to tell a different worldview of superpowers, but the background of the story is Reduced to furnishings. All in all, I believe "Code 8" still has a lot of story potential, but it needs more imagination.
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