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The blaxploitation classic “Super Fly,” directed by Gordon Parks Jr., is often referred to as the “Citizen Kane” of its genre. Character actors such as Carl Lee, Julius Harris, and Ron O’Neal, as well as the film’s uber-conked leading man, Ron O’Neal, were able to successfully perform Philip Fenty’s verbally sharp crime story script. A suave, larger-than-life cocaine dealer, Youngblood Priest was played by O’Neal, who is doing quite well financially but is disillusioned with the lifestyle. The goal for him is to achieve a final score in order to be able to exit the game without any worries. In order for Priest to feel truly blessed, he will need to sell a million dollars’ worth of coke while keeping the corrupt cops and Mafia out of his mesmerizing hair. The activities of Priest were accompanied by a soundtrack composed by soul music legend Curtis Mayfield, which at times complemented and at others contradicted them.
The remake of “SuperFly,” directed by Director X, reduces the title adjective to a single word while otherwise remaining true to the Fenty story. Once in a while, the plot takes a minor detour; for example, a character is repurposed for a different purpose or there are more villains to contend with. However, this is primarily a faithful adaptation, one that is larger but not necessarily better. This version of “SuperFly” contains far more violence than the previous one, and it has a budget that Parks and company could never hope to match in their wildest dreams. Although it boasts a lot of occasionally entertaining bluster and ’90s-era crime movie braggadocio, this is a surprisingly shallow adaptation of a much more cagey and morally ambiguous original. Let me be clear: the film isn’t terrible. Despite the fact that it is at least 20 minutes too long, it is still quite watchable. Instead of going to the theater, I could have stayed at home and watched “Belly” or “New Jack City,” both of which are better, more visually arresting, and have a clearer sense of place regarding their respective settings than this film.
Coincidentally, “The Return of SuperFly,” released in 1990, may have been the film that officially heralded the beginning of the era of films like the ones that “SuperFly” evokes. Nathan Purdee, a soap opera veteran, played Priest in that film, which was once again bolstered by Curtis Mayfield’s score, this time as the villain. Mayfield collaborated with rappers such as Ice-T, resulting in a sort of torch-passing from which we can draw a direct line to the film’s hip hop-heavy soundtrack, which was composed by Future. Future is not Curtis Mayfield, and his music, unlike Mayfield’s “Super Fly” album, will not have a significant impact on the way songs are used in films in the future. Sony’s pairing of a successful musician with a visual filmmaker, on the other hand, is a clear indication that the studio is attempting to recreate the “lightning in a bottle” moment that inspired the original film. As a result, comparisons between the two films are permissible.
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Perhaps my expectations were set too high, especially in terms of the visuals, but I was pleasantly surprised. Director X has a long history of working on music videos, many of which have fantastic and distinctive looks, textures, and editing techniques thanks to his experience in the industry. “SuperFly,” on the other hand, is visually flat, relying too heavily on overused motifs from rap videos rather than the ingenuity I had hoped it would display. Once someone “made it rain” around strippers or carried out a bloody shoot-out, I gave up on the prospect of seeing something different.
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Additionally, the city of Atlanta is presented as a series of shorthand shots that are intended for people who either live in or have spent a significant amount of time visiting the city. Sure, we get to see famous landmarks and places that the intended audience is familiar with and enjoys, but they never have the same emotional impact on the characters that their hometown should have on them. It gives the impression that the viewer is in a glass-bottom boat, free to take in the scenery without having the opportunity to experience it firsthand.
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Trevor Jackson, the new Youngblood Priest, possesses the same commanding presence as his predecessor from 1972. He’s convincing as both a drug dealer and a ladies’ man. He is dressed in fashionable attire and drives a fantastic vehicle. He’s skilled in hand-to-hand combat, whether it’s with adversaries or with Scatter (a superb Michael Kenneth Williams), the man who trained him in the fine art of strategic cocaine dealing and who appears in the film. And his hair is hypnotic to look at! Ron O’Neal’s silky ‘do had the same effect on me when I was seven years old and got my first glimpse of it. Jackson’s hairstyle, on the other hand, is on an entirely different level of enviable fabulousness; not even Black Jesus flying through the air above me while squirting multiple packages of Dark ‘n Lovely on my head could make my hair look as good as that.
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But I’m getting ahead of myself. Despite his attempts to imitate O’Neal’s stoic demeanor, Jackson comes across as merely joyless rather than stoic at times. Jackson, on the other hand, is very good at convincingly delivering the colorful pearls of wisdom and advice that Alex Tse has scripted for him to deliver. “This ain’t checkers, this is chess!” exclaims Q (Big Bank Black), Priest’s nemesis and leader of rival set The Snow Patrol, when describing the criminal long con Priest is so adept at pulling off. “This ain’t checkers, this is chess!” However, when Priest is imparting his philosophy on people such as his right hand man, Eddie (Jason Mitchell), he comes across as more of an aunt than a pusherman. The Devil warns Eddie, saying, “If you keep dancing with the Devil, he’ll eventually step on your feet!” Despite the fact that lines like this make no sense, Jackson manages to sell the hell out of them.
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In its most successful attempts to bring elements of the original film into the modern era, “SuperFly” is at its most effective. It’s done with some very amusing in-jokes and timely commentary, from casting Big Boi of Outkast as a mayoral candidate in Atlanta to having someone utter the phrase “fake news” to naming an extremely corrupt and murderous cop something that rhymes with Kirk Franklin, and everything in between. Women are given far more agency and power in this version of the film, with the film’s most powerful badass—who happens to be a mother!—getting the iconic “walk toward the camera after the carnage” shot normally reserved for male heroes. And the characters played by Jennifer Morrison, Lex Scott Davis, and Andrea Londo are as knowledgeable about crime as, if not more so than, our anti-hero himself. Given that the latter two appear in a shower-based ménage à trois that was met with raucous applause from my audience, at the very least the leering camera is a victim of equal opportunity.
For the most part, Director X’s take on the original’s infamous cocaine montage serves as the best explanation for why “SuperFly” does not outperform Gordon Parks Jr.’s original vision of the character. In response to this sequence of people enjoying Priest’s product, Ron O’Neal claimed it was “a commercial for cocaine,” which he considered offensive. Also scoring his own version of Mayfield’s incendiary “Pusherman,” Director X depicts people selling coke rather than taking pleasure in it. The difference between Parks’ version and this film’s version is that Parks’ version forces you to consider who is being affected by Priest’s capitalist migraine of million dollar glory; this film’s version refuses to consider the users at all, which eliminates the unease one felt when rooting for O’Neal’s Priest. While this does not bring the film to a halt, it does make the protagonist’s plight less complex than it should otherwise have been. You will have a good time, but you will not be challenged.
For more personality quizzes check this: Proud Mary Quiz.
