''Code 8'' is a 2016 American-Canadian

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

science fiction action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by Jeff Chan, co-written by Chan and Chris Paré. Starring

Robbie Amell Robert Patrick Amell IV (born April 21, 1988) is a Canadian-American actor and producer. He is best-known for his roles as Stephen Jameson on The CW series ''The Tomorrow People'', Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm on The CW series ''The Flash'', Natha ...

Stephen Amell Stephen Adam Amell (born May 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He came to prominence for playing the lead role of Oliver Queen on The CW superhero series ''Arrow'' (2012–2020). Amell also appeared in subsequent Arrowverse franchise media, along wi ...

and

Sung Kang Sung-Ho Kang (born April 8, 1972) is an American actor. His first major role was as Han Lue in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise, a character he first portrayed in ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002). Kang also played John Mak in the television serie ...

, the film was expanded into a feature-length project, also titled '' Code 8''. The film is a futuristic vision taking place in a world where 4% of the population are born with some type of supernatural ability. Instead of being billionaire superheroes, most ‘specials’ live in poverty and resort to crime, forcing the police to become more militarized.

Plot

Sometime in the future 4% of the earth's population have developed special abilities, but are treated like pariahs and forced by circumstance to live in poverty. The term "special" had become pejorative and those with abilities are treated poorly by those without. In Lincoln City, Connor Reed (

), a young man with special powers, struggles to find work as a day laborer. After a dispute over him and his friend Freddie (

Aaron Abrams Aaron Abrams (born 12 May 1978) is a Canadian actor and writer, who has worked in both film and television. Born in Toronto, Abrams has appeared as a regular on several series, including Hannibal, Blindspot, '' The State Within'', '' Slings a ...

) being shorted in their pay after completing work, Connor finds himself in a confrontation with police officer Alex Park (

) and the many

autonomous robot An autonomous robot is a robot that acts without recourse to human control. The first autonomous robots environment were known as Elmer and Elsie, which were constructed in the late 1940s by W. Grey Walter. They were the first robots in history th ...

drones backing up the officer.

Cast

as Connor Reed A Special who provides for his family by working as a day laborer. He is a Class 5 Electric, meaning he can manipulate electricity and is capable of emitting an EMP blast strong enough to knock out a city block. He prefers not to use his powers, instead relying on his training as an electrician to find work. *

as Officer Alex Park A by-the-book cop who does his best to protect Lincoln City while following the rules. He is Officer Dixon's partner. *

as Freddie Berko Connor's friend and a fellow Special. He is a Class 2 Brawn, meaning he has superhuman strength powerful enough to lift a truck with one arm or toss grown men through the air with ease. *

as Drone Operator #1 *

Chad Donella Chad E. Donella (born May 18, 1978) is a Canadian actor who has appeared in several movies and television shows. He married Joni Bertin in 2007. Life and career He attended the Arts York Drama Program, in which he participated in such plays a ...

as Dixon A cop who has a deep prejudice against Specials. He is Officer Park's partner. * Peter Huang as Drone Pilot 3 * Alfred Rubin Thompson as Big Joe * Al Marchesi as a class 2 Pyro A Special with the power of pyrokinesis. He can produce flames from his fingers that can be small enough to light a cigarette or hot enough to cut through metal piping. * Christine Pagulayan as Reporter * Patrice Henry as Dispatch 1 * Phyllis Politowicz as Grandma * Tonya Dodds Sinisac as Dispatch 3 * Ryan Freer as Drone Pilot 4 * Jack Horan as Justin Reed * Jeff Sinasac as Drone Pilot 2

Production

History

On March 22, 2016, Robbie and Stephen Amell premiered a 10-minute short film as a teaser for a full-length feature, also titled '' Code 8''. While releasing the short, the Amells simultaneously started an Indiegogo campaign in order to fund the full-length feature."Code 8 - a film from Robbie & Stephen Amell"
Indiegogo.com. Accessed April 2016. With their target being $200,000, the film was funded less than 48 hours, and continued to grow, having exceeded $1,500,000 in a month."Code 8 - a film from Robbie & Stephen Amell"
Indiegogo.com. Accessed April 2016. Both the Amells expressed that, by going with the

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

route, they can keep the creative control to themselves. Some of the perks to donating to ''Code 8'' included digital copies of both versions of the film, exclusive merchandise, producing credits and some quality time with the Amells. On April 9, 2016, Robbie Amell teased in a Facebook Q&A video that actor

Victor Garber Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian-American actor and singer. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also ...

had expressed his interest in joining the film. On April 14, 2016, director Jeff Chan made a post about the short film on the

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

and

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

aggregator site

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

, where he also answered questions in a mini- AMA.

Feature film

Due to scheduling conflicts, Stephen Amell was not able to star in the short film. However, he did voice a police drone. He confirmed that he will star in the feature. The short film was self-financed as well as calling in favors from friends and family. Production began on June 1, 2017. The film screened at the

Sitges Film Festival The Sitges Film Festival ( ca, Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, links=no) is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Spain, specialized in fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world's foremost in ...

in October 2019.

Reception

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...

'' wrote that "The Mysterious Code 8 Film Is An Intriguing Crowdfunding Teaser", and praised the film in writing it "definitely leaves the audience wanting to see what happens next, and it really looks like’s something that

Neill Blomkamp Neill Blomkamp (; born 17 September 1979) is a South African filmmaker. He employs a documentary-style, Hand-held camera, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated imagery, computer-gene ...

would have directed: robotic police officers, some pretty overt political themes, and so forth. We’re certainly interested in seeing where this goes."

References

External links

''Code 8'' (short film)
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Code 8'' (short film)
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

* {{Facebook, Code8Movie Crowdfunded films Canadian science fiction short films 2016 science fiction action films 2016 films Indiegogo projects Fiction about superhuman features or abilities Android (robot) films Postcyberpunk films Law enforcement in fiction Drone films 2010s dystopian films 2016 short films 2010s English-language films American science fiction short films