“Superfly”

Susan Granger’s review of “Superfly” (Columbia Pictures/Sony)

superfly

One has to wonder why music-video auteur Director X (whose real name is Julien Christian Lutz) decided to remake Gordon Parks Jr.’s gritty 1972 blaxploitation classic as his big-feature directorial debut.

It had to be the music – but how could he improve on the funky Curtis Mayfield soundtrack that served as a kind of Greek chorus?

According to Canadian-born Director X, it was hip-hop star Future, one of the originators of the current Atlanta sound, who enlists help from artists like Miguel, Khalid and Lil Wayne.

Moving the setting from the mean streets of Harlem to swankier Atlanta, the action/crime/thriller revolves around Youngblood Priest (Trevor Jackson), a savvy coke dealer with a neck tattoo and vertical pompadour who wants out supplying drugs, noting “no car ever outran fate.”

Priest’s ruthless, white-tracksuit/hoodie clad rivals are known as the Snow Patrol, headed by Q (Big Bank Black), whose sociopathic protégé Juju (Kaalan “K.R.” Walker) tries to gun him down.

Priest has two live-in girlfriends: sophisticated, African-American Georgia (Lex Scott Davis) and younger Latina Cynthia (Andrea Londo). Earning its R-rating, there’s a steamy, three-way sex scene in the shower.

Chasing one “last score” so he can retire, Priest turns to his mentor, martial-artist Scatter (Michael Kenneth Williams). When that doesn’t work, Priest, accompanied by his hard-working partner Eddie (Jason Mitchell), drives across the border to connect with Mexican drug cartel manager Adalberto Gonzalez (Esai Morales).

Plus, Priest is exploited by a couple of corrupt police officers (Brian F. Durkin, Jennifer Morrison), concluding with a satirical sting, courtesy of Outkasts’s rapper/songwriter Big Boi as Atlanta’s incumbent mayor, who’s running for re-election.

Aside from the obvious objectification of women, it’s superficial, stale stuff, scripted by Alex Tse.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Superfly” snorts a formulaic, barely functional 5. Slick gangsta garbage.

05

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