Curator Watchlist
A modestly improved sequel with stronger effects, a more coherent action engine, and a few fun worldbuilding touches, but it still feels thin, familiar, and emotionally underpowered. If you like low-budget sci-fi crime stories with robot-police imagery and don’t mind a derivative structure, it can pass the time.
Where to watch: Buy
Tue · 1h 41m
Director: Jeff Chan
Starring: Robbie Amell, Stephen Amell, Alex Mallari Jr.
In a world where superpowered people are heavily policed by robots, an ex-con teams up with a drug lord he despises to protect a teen from a corrupt cop.
Jeff Chan
Robbie Amell, Stephen Amell, Alex Mallari Jr.
A modestly improved sequel with stronger effects, a more coherent action engine, and a few fun worldbuilding touches, but it still feels thin, familiar, and emotionally underpowered. If you like low-budget sci-fi crime stories with robot-police imagery and don’t mind a derivative structure, it can pass the time.
Code 8 Part II is the kind of sequel that mostly justifies itself by being a little cleaner, a little bigger, and a little more confident than the first film. The robot cops, dog units, and upgraded effects give the world some texture, and the action has enough momentum to keep things moving even when the story feels familiar.
What holds it back is the same thing that limited the original: the emotional stakes are undercooked, the plotting is straightforward, and the film rarely surprises. It has a decent premise about superpowered people living under heavy surveillance, but it doesn’t dig deeply enough into that idea to make the world feel fully alive.
Still, there’s a watchable, workmanlike quality here. The performances are solid, the sibling dynamic helps, and the movie has enough genre competence to satisfy if you’re in the mood for a modest dystopian crime thriller rather than a major sci-fi event.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3★) · 158 likes
A slight improvement over the original, especially in its visual effects. The robot cops and the new dog gear look pretty cool. Some good use of slow mo too. The score is still a banger, especially in those opening credits. The story is still okay—not very engaging, but good enough to pique my interest. Robbie delivered another solid performance, and the dynamic with his brother Stephen was unsurprisingly great. It's good to see the brothers working together. All in all,… more
Kylo (2.5★) · 144 likes
While maybe an improvement over the first, this still wasn’t great. It feel too simple and bare. It’s always nice to see Robbie Amell though. The robot dogs were also pretty cool.
Rosie✨ (1.5★) · 116 likes
Code 8: Part II is a sci-fi action sequel that picks up right where the first film left off, with superpowered individuals still fighting against systemic oppression in a world that fears and exploits them. I remember liking the first movie, but for some reason, I never got around to writing a review—now I can’t figure out why, because this sequel is not good. Part of me wants to go back and see if I misremembered the first one, but
joshrowley (3★) · 93 likes
Derivative; entertaining; familiar; humorless; simple; well-cast; well-made; well-paced.
One Godfella 侍 (2.5★) · 85 likes
I did write some code in Java once, but that was the island in Indonesia. RoboCop would have laughed with a K9 robodog.
Shares the same corporate-police dystopia, satirical edge, and urban crime-future energy, but with far sharper writing and iconography.
A strong match for its outsider-under-siege themes, social allegory, and gritty sci-fi worldbuilding.
For viewers who like surveillance-state futurism, police procedure, and a sleek, oppressive near-future setting.
Combines crime-movie mechanics with sci-fi ideas and a grounded, bruised tone.
A compact, violent, authoritarian-future action film with a similar sense of urban rot and enforcement gone wrong.
Offers a leaner, more inventive version of high-concept near-future action with stronger momentum and style.
Another story about marginalized enhanced people navigating a harsh system, with much bigger visual ambition.
Deals with class division, policing, and a broken social order in a sleek sci-fi action framework.
For audiences drawn to human-vs-machine conflict, future warfare, and sympathetic outsiders in a hostile system.
A polished robot-policing mystery with a similar interest in enforcement technology and public fear.
A fast-moving, violent sci-fi thriller about identity, oppression, and a corrupt future order.
For a more contemplative take on engineered beings, institutional control, and bleak future atmosphere.
systemic oppression, superhuman marginalization, corrupt policing, near-future dystopia, crime underclass, found-family loyalty, brotherhood, surveillance state
dystopian sci-fi, action thriller, crime drama, robot police, superpowers, streaming original, near-future, anti-authoritarian, grim tone, low-budget spectacle