What to do when your friend wouldn’t be quiet about a movie? You’ve just got to watch it to see what the hype is about, isn’t it? Lol. Wrong. You can simply ignore the yapping like I always do. But there was something different about this one, and even though I’m the last person to be pressured by what’s being hyped whether movie, music or book, like I said, it felt different somehow and after studying my eyes out and having adequate rest, I proceeded to spoil myself a bit with this series. NOTE: There will be a few spoilers.
Supacell is a British Superhero television series produced by Joanna Crow and directed by Rapman and Sebastian Thiel. It’s set in South London and it’s first episode was released on the 27th of June, 2024. It’s in its first season and has six episodes only.
The first episode begins with a woman running in what seems to be a heavily guarded maze-like facility. While the woman tries to find an exit, the armed guards are on her tail. She is soon trapped as she finds herself in front of an exit where an automated voice denies her access. Her eyes are suddenly illuminated and she bursts the exit open. Just as she’s about to make her way out, she’s shot dead by the guards who’ve caught up to her.
In another part of town, there’s Michael, a delivery guy slowly gaining his way to financial freedom and whose fondest wish is to get married to his long-term girlfriend. On the day he proposes to her, he discovers that not only can he freeze time and teleport, but he can also see the future. And in that brief journey to the future, he sees the day his girlfriend is going to die, which is exactly three months from the present.
Now he must set out to find the four other people with superpowers like himself so they can unite against the impending doom that awaits them and maybe save his girlfriend before it’s too late.
For starters, this is one of the few movies we’re I genuinely get the hype. Six episodes passed in a flash because I was transfixed by the plot and the stories of these flawed characters. It’s a thought provoking series that showcases the lives of super beings while still taking us through the everyday struggles of being black in a way that feels relatable and authentic.
Another thing I enjoyed in this series was the absence of the unnecessary gore, profanities and sex scenes. Film makers for a long time now feel that submerging a movie with many sex scenes would draw people in. The fact that all of that was mild and that they didn’t disgust us with unnecessary gore that is usually associated with films like these was quite refreshing.
I love the character development too. Many times this bit in a series is rushed over, so much so that we can’t even root for the characters cause we scarcely know anything about them. It was different with Supacell because each character’s story was brought to life. They all interpreted their roles convincingly so it was easy to root for them. Their personal struggles and triumphs were relatable as well, so I was heavily invested. Loved the cinematography too.
But moving on to the downside and I just didn’t see any chemistry between the characters. Till they end, that bond that would have make the fact that they are becoming a team believable felt lacking for me. Apart from the fact that they were all being haunted by these super bad guys, their bonding stories did not just feel enough for me. They bickered at each other practically till the end, so their teaming up didn’t quite cut it for me.
Also, the usual eye-rollers and clichés. I know it’s portrayed like it’s not easy to tell the person you love that you’ve seen the day they’ll die, but come on. At some point you were told that the fact that you’ve seen the future could alter the present, so she’d probably die sooner or later than the foretold date, yet you choose to focus on the latter part and not save her while you can. You can teleport for goodness sake, yet when you literally saw the future of her actual death play in front of you, you just couldn’t teleport her back to the house or take her from harm’s way. I guess they missed that part. And yeah, there's also the classic case of not being able to let go of your abusive ex till he nearly kills you. For the second time.
Then there's the plot discrepancies. When you’re done or maybe reach a certain point in the movie, you realize that the beginning scene didn’t make a lot of sense. You had super powers to burst the exit open yet you struggled with it and when you finally burst it open, you had to waste few seconds to savour the environment and whatnot, ultimately getting killed. No survival instincts whatsoever. Very silly.
Oh and yeah, the ultimate plot twists. The villain that antagonized them all along turning out to also have super powers was quite unnecessary in my opinion. The character who became the ultimate villain was also quite unconvincing. Just the regular knots that aren’t usually tied up nicely in contemporary films. But to be honest, I did enjoy this series and I’m looking forward to the next season. The fact that it’s Black British does help matters cause they do be having the hottest accents. A 4.3/5 for me. Do watch, please.
Thumbnail from IMDB.
