Review: Gritty techno-thriller Code 8 is a surprise breakout hit on Netflix

Robbie Amell and Stephen Amell star in Code 8, a Canadian sci-fi film currently making waves on Netflix.

One of the surprise breakout hits on Netflix during the coronavirus shutdown is Code 8, a Canadian science-fiction film funded entirely through a crowdfunding campaign. It's set in an alternate timeline in the 1990s, where people with superhuman powers face severe discrimination and economic hardship. But this isn't a cheap rip-off of the X-Men franchise. Code 8 is a smart, gritty, techno-noir thriller that is equal parts X-Men, District 9, and classic heist movies (Ben Affleck's The Town is probably closest in tone and themes).

(Some spoilers below, but no major reveals.)

Directed by Jeff Chan, Code 8 began life as a short teaser film of the same name, produced by cousins Robbie Amell (star of the forthcoming Upload) and Stephen Amell (Arrow) in 2016. They launched an Indiegogo fundraiser that year to make a feature-length version and soon raised $2.4 million. By December of last year, when the film was officially released, they had raised $3.4 million altogether, with the extra funds going to cover promotional and distribution costs, as well as perks for the more than 30,000 individual contributors (many of whom are named in the very long credits sequence). The film grossed only $150,000 in theaters but has found a second life on Netflix, where it currently ranks in the Top Ten in terms of viewership.

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