SuperFly
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: June 13, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
11
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The GuardianCharles BramescoJun 12, 2018
This high-gloss take on Gordon Parks Jr’s funky vision of the hustle goes so far into sheer, unabashed rap-video excess that calling it gratuitous would miss the point. Until it suddenly, brutally isn’t. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 12, 2018
Superfly succeeds at it what it wants to be: an action-packed, sexy, violent, 21st century blaxploitation crime thriller with a stylish look, a downloadable soundtrack, a great-looking and talented cast, a few slick twists and even some genuinely funny moments. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Melissa VincentJun 12, 2018
Employing the unapologetic pomp of rap videos and enough heart to transition stereotypical characters into complex, dynamic subjects, Superfly is a visual treat that embellishes Director X’s signature kaleidoscopic visuals with an uncanny knack for storytelling. Read full review
75
ConsequenceRandall ColburnJun 12, 2018
As was the case with the majority of blaxploitation films, the original Super Fly’s appeal wasn’t in its story so much as the ways in which it carved out an unapologetically black vision that served to capture a particular era in terms of its themes, music, and fashion. X has done that here, but he’s also crafted a crowd-pleasing summer blockbuster that will appeal to the modern filmgoer. Read full review
70
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsJun 29, 2018
It’s not a remake so much as a juicy, larger-than-life update—a movie whose aim is to bring the Super Fly myth up to speed. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 12, 2018
Superfly may be suffused with political fury, but it is also unapologetically awash in cheap, disreputable B-movie thrills. Read full review
70
TheWrapInkoo KangJun 12, 2018
Sure, young star Trevor Jackson (“Grown-ish,” “American Crime”) can’t fill O’Neal’s effortlessly dapper, achingly world-weary shoes, and few movie soundtracks can rival Curtis Mayfield’s legendary album for the first “Super Fly.” But this is a remake worthy of its original. Read full review
67
Original-CinLiam LaceyJun 14, 2018
Though it can’t match the Michael Mann-level menace and poetic rapture it aspires to, the new Atlanta-set Superfly is certainly watchable. Along with its set-piece fantasies of lavishness and violence, it features a flavourful cast of drug dealers, and stars the charismatic baby-faced Trevor Jackson. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJun 12, 2018
It works because the characters keep things anchored to some kind of dramatic reality. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 14, 2018
Somewhere between ridiculously stylish and stylishly ridiculous lies "Superfly," a modern so-bad-it’s-kinda-good remake of the 1970s blaxploitation classic that offers as much close-up twerking as kung fu fighting. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartJun 14, 2018
Superfly escapes superficiality thanks largely to strong performances from Jackson; Jason Mitchell as Priest’s workmanlike partner, Eddie, and Michael Kenneth Williams as Priest’s mentor, Scatter. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonJun 13, 2018
SuperFly is visually flat, relying too much on oft-repeated motifs of rap videos rather than the ingenuity I expected. By the fourth time someone “made it rain” around strippers or executed a gory shoot-out, I gave up on potentially seeing something new. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 12, 2018
If you can forget about the movie’s general moral vacuousness, the extremely uneven digital photography and the slavish devotion to designer assault weapons...the screenplay by “Watchmen” scribe Alex Tse keeps the shifting alliances and power plays in clever circulation. Read full review
61
IGNWitney SeiboldJun 14, 2018
Superfly features an appealing lead, and captures small tastes of amazing, striking cool, but is also bogged down by plot and characters that reduce an otherwise slick flick into something that is more capable than amazing. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 13, 2018
Neither as satisfying as the remake of "Shaft" nor as objectionable as the remake of "Death Wish," the second coming of Superfly wants to tap into that same ’70s grindhouse allure and put a similarly slick modern gloss on it. The results are pretty mixed. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJun 12, 2018
When the new SuperFly does show flashes of street-smart wit...its energy is infectious. Mostly, though, it needs to take its hero’s advice and take things up a notch. Read full review
50
ObserverOliver JonesJun 14, 2018
Music video director Director X, making his feature debut, presents it all in a compelling and often intoxicating manner. There is something narcotic and languid about his pacing and camera work that feels purposeful and stylistic when the script is focused but comes off as stumbling and haphazard when the story looses momentum, which is often. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 14, 2018
The new Superfly isn’t a great work of artistry or of cheap thrills — it’s so in between it’s practically bourgeois — but in the swagger department, it just squeaks by. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 13, 2018
This Superfly is all hair and clothes and cars. There’s nothing beneath the surface. Read full review
50
Washington PostKristen Page-KirbyJun 13, 2018
Did the original “Super Fly” need to be remade? Not really. The new film is a decent example of the barrage of reboots storming theaters lately, but that’s all it is: decent. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleJun 12, 2018
Jackson comfortably carries the film with a smooth panache, but his Priest — like the movie — doesn’t make much of an impression. Yet Superfly is also a generally entertaining movie, with good things in it. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJun 12, 2018
It lacks a moral center, and at times seems oblivious to the laughable things that are happening on screen. It’s also about 20 minutes too long. And yet SuperFly is entertaining, period. The dialogue is fast and fun, and the sense of fashion is so pervasive that it occasionally distracts from the movie. Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJun 12, 2018
The roomier scenario of this remake has the potential to yield a decent thriller, but Superfly too often prioritizes showy sequences for dubious reasons. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 12, 2018
Shot in a functional, slammed-together manner that’s less sensually stylish than you’d expect from a music-video auteur, the film is a competent yet glossy and hermetic street-hustle drug thriller, less a new urban myth than a lavishly concocted episode. It holds your attention yet leaves you with nothing. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 20, 2018
Antwan "Big Boi" Patton appears in an entertaining role as Atlanta’s weaselly mayor. Atlanta may have dibs on Youngblood Priest this time, but even though the character is still fly in this reboot, it would be a stretch to regard him as truly superfly. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 13, 2018
At least it looks super fly. It's too bad that Director X (born Julien Christian Lutz), the Canadian short-form film master for the likes of Rihanna, Drake and Nicki Minaj, stumbles when he has to stretch a scene past video length. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonJun 13, 2018
SuperFly is a slicked-up, tricked-out revamp that dispenses with any pretense of verisimilitude in favor of rap-video extravagance and mob-movie bloodshed. Read full review
30
Village VoiceCraig D. LindseyJun 16, 2018
For all its pulpy, genre-movie intentions, SuperFly is virtually crippled by its own ludicrousness. It incites more giggles than gasps. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJun 12, 2018
Beyond the obvious complaints about objectification of women, this second feature from the Canadian who calls himself Director X is just a bore. Read full review
20
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 12, 2018
The new Superfly is, simply, a terrible movie. It is slick, and it boasts action, hot tunes and style to spare. But beyond the polish that a deep-pocketed studio backer can buy -- in this case, Sony's Columbia Pictures shingle -- this is a shamefully hollow movie that fails on multiple levels. Read full review
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