Code 8 | 2019 | TV-MA | – 5.6.10

Why is “Code 8” rated TV-MA? The MPAA has not rated this film. The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few exotic dance club scenes with dancing and partial nudity, several scenes of people with special abilities using their powers to blow things up, lift heavy objects, melt things or electrify things sometimes causing the death of others with some blood shown, a few scenes of police shooting people during raids leaving some dead with blood splatter shown, several scenes of a woman dying from a brain tumor with some lesions visible, several threats of violence, discussions of powered people as being second class citizens, and a few scenes of an illegal drug manufacturer shop and the use of a drug; and at least 70 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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In the near future mutants with superpowers are treated as second class citizens and are monitored and controlled by police officers and weaponized drones and cyborgs. One young man (Robbie Amell) with the ability to generate huge amounts of electricity is recruited by criminals to assist in robberies and he goes along to make money in order to pay for an operation for his dying mother (Kari Matchett). Also with Stephen Amell, Lawrence Bayne, Jai Jai Jones, Alex Mallari Jr., Shaun Benson, Sung Kang, Aaron Abrams, Laysla De Oliveira and Martin Roach. Directed by Jeff Chan. A few phrases are signed with English subtitles or translation by another character. [Running Time: 1:38]

Code 8 SEX/NUDITY 5

 – Two women lie across a man seated on a sofa and when he tells them to leave, one woman’s top reveals her bare breasts. A man lifts a woman’s top to reveal her bare abdomen and traces her flesh with a drug vial that he puts in her pocket. A woman dancing in a club wears a thong that reveals her bare buttocks and she appears topless (there’s a brief glimpse of breasts). A woman dances wearing a bikini (cleavage, bare legs, abdomen and back are seen) in the background of an exotic dance club scene. We see neon light fixtures in the shape of the outline of nude women a few times (breasts, abdomens, legs and buttocks) in an exotic dance club.

Code 8 VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A police transport is diverted by construction and is blocked by another truck that backs into the road and hits a street sign; the driver gets out of the truck and cyborgs train their weapons on him until another man shorts out the power in the transport and the cyborgs, a hole is melted through the transport door and a smoke bomb is pushed inside causing the officers to open the back and come out coughing; three men with guns approach and shoot the officers (blood sprays and they fall dead), they shoot a woman in the back and another man in the side (we see blood and he dies later) before the gunmen are shot dead (blood sprays). A woman shoots at a man, another man zaps her with an electric shock and she uses a knife to slash him on the arm (we see a bloody cut later) and the woman is shot several times (we see her lying dead in a pool of blood later). Police raid an apartment with a cyborg breaking open the door and a man inside throws a heavy weight plate hitting it in the head and pinning it against a wall, and other officers enter and open fire on people inside arresting one man. Police and cyborg guards surround a worksite and examine men working in the area looking for “powered people”; one man is identified as having a warrant and when he is placed in handcuffs, he shoots flames in the face of an officer and runs away but he is shot in the back and he falls dead. Police enter a building shooting and we see many people struck (with some blood splatter).
► A man is shot and lies on the ground bleeding as two powered men fight with zaps and power surges, another powered man joins the fight and two of them try to strangle each other until one man is stabbed through the eye with a metal rod and another zaps the rod blowing the man’s brains out the back of his head (we see splatter). A man uses his powers to zap another man in the chest (we see a spot on his shirt glowing red) and he zaps the other man throwing him back on the ground. A man uses his powers to pin another man against a wall and squeeze him; we hear the pinned man scream and we hear bones crunching. A man holds a gun on a woman and orders her to help him as he coughs; she eventually helps him. A man holds a gun under his jacket and pointed toward another man as they talk. A room is found with many people with IV lines attached to the backs of their necks (they are spinal taps) as fluid is withdrawn and collected for use in the manufacture of a drug.
► An exotic dancer performing in a club is smacked on the bare buttock by a man and security guards surround him threateningly. A woman holds a glass and it begins to be covered with frost, she exhales frosty air and she collapses out of her chair; we see her in the hospital later as a doctor tells her adult son that she needs immediate surgery to save her life. After having robbed a bank, the robbers are surrounded by police drones until one man uses his powers to short out the drone’s power and it crashes to the ground (we see flames and smoke billowing). Several people enter a bank, incapacitate the security guards, disable the security system and access a vault to steal money. A man threatens to cut another man open.
► A man touches an electric fence and glows briefly before shorting out the charge and a woman melts the chain on a lock so that others can enter and steal barrels of chemicals; they lock a security guard in a dumpster when he approaches them. A man’s fingertip glows red and he uses it to cut metal and seal welds. A man is shown with super strength and we see him lifting very heavy objects (like cement dividers). A man touches the hood of a car and shorts out the alarm as it blares. When powered people use their powers, their eyes glow. A man trains to use his powers by holding and lighting light bulbs in the air. A man yells in anger and he blasts a zap of electricity. People in a truck drive by an area where men are waiting for jobs and throw a liquid at them (it’s not clear what it is).
► A man offers a woman a drug and when she reaches for it he pulls it away and says, “Me first” as he opens his shirt; she is a healer and he is sick with something that makes him cough in several scenes and when she touches his chest she begins to cough herself. A woman whimpers as she touches an unconscious woman in a hospital bed; we see lesions appearing on the first woman’s skin, until a man tells her to stop and she does. A man looks into a woman’s eyes and says that she is imagining “different ways to slit my throat.” A woman yells at her adult son in a couple of scenes. A man tells another man that his “farm” (drug manufacturing) was raided and all his equipment was lost. A man yells at an employee and threatens her job. A man talks about his father having been killed while holding up a liquor store. A man talks about another man’s “poor dying mommy.” Several people plan a robbery and one man says, “We don’t kill anyone.” A woman talks about her daughter saying that the kids at school are afraid of her (she is powered) and the child asks her father if he and her mom are going to give her away. Several discussions concern people with “special abilities,” including references to registration requirements. References are made to a drug manufactured from the spinal fluid of people with special abilities.
► We understand that a woman has a brain tumor that is killing her. A woman’s hands are shown blue-tinged with darkened veins visible through the skin and several lesions; when she runs water on her hands she winces and steam rises from her hands (she is apparently freezing). A woman touches a man’s injured arm and her hand glows as she heals his wound. There are scenes depicting the monitoring of people with special abilities. A man vomits in a dark alley (we hear splatter and retching with no goo visible).

Code 8 LANGUAGE 10

 – About 70 F-words and its derivatives, 2 sexual references (1 referring to prison rape), 13 scatological terms, 11 anatomical terms, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (drug addict, brutal, punk, idiot, weird, insane, junkie, stupid, degenerates, these people, shaky, stray dog, bastards, short and thin), exclamations (shut-up, tone it down, boo-[F-word deleted] hoo), 4 religious profanities (GD), 5 religious exclamations (e.g. For Heaven’s Sake, Oh Christ, For Christ’s Sake, Oh My God ). | profanity glossary |

Code 8 SUBSTANCE USE

 – References to a drug manufactured from the spinal fluid of people with special abilities and a woman drops a drug into her eyes by an eyedropper in a couple of scenes. People seated at a bar drink glasses of liquor in a few scenes, and a man drinks from a glass of whisky with a bottle on a table.

Code 8 DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Special abilities, otherism, unemployment, estranged fathers, saving a loved one, drug addiction.

Code 8 MESSAGE

 – Assisting criminals, even for a good cause, will not end well.