SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Scott_Mercer This movie bored the snot out of me.I had seen the original Superfly first. I wanted more of the same. Butt kicking, hard slapping, big bad PIMPING.This movie has a retired Priest, (aka Superfly, the hero of the first film) living it up in Rome, approached by a wannabe rebel leader from a small West African nation, trying to get out from under the yoke of colonial oppression by THE MAN. He wants Priest to run some guns into the war-torn African nation for him.Imagine my shock when I discovered just now that this film was co-written by ALEX HALEY, the author of the fantastic "Roots." That first came on TV when I was a kid, as one of the last of the big network television "events" before Cable TV really got wide latitude. That was along lines of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan (before my time) a Super Bowl, or the "Who Shot J.R." episode (I remember that hype too). But "Roots" was a great piece of art, and I mean EVERYBODY but EVERYBODY watched it, whatever color your skin happened to be.This movie was a waste and a disaster, but I guess Alex Haley is where the idea of the African setting came from (idle speculation on my part).Anyway, I guess they were trying to do something new with the character, but the concept was utterly wrong-headed from the start. The movie is also REALLY SLOW. It takes about 45 minutes before he gets to Africa! Too long! And the whole side story with Robert Guillame as a fellow American in Rome, an artist with a fantastic singing voice, was just a waste of time.Original Superfly: 8 out of 10. This tripe: 3 out of 10.It's still much better than THE GUY FROM HARLEM, though.

MartinHafer Priest (Ron O'Neal) is back in a sequel to the hit "Superfly". However, this time he's quite different--a kindler, gentler sort of Priest. You see, in the first film, Priest was completely amoral---and made his fortune selling dope and women. Here, the film finds him living the good life in Europe--he's retired and financially secure. However, he is also vaguely dissatisfied and despite his repeatedly saying he's only out to make money and take care of himself and his woman, he is eventually persuaded to help a man (Roscoe Lee Browne) in his attempt to start a revolution in his small African nation against the colonial powers--he wants Priest to smuggle in weapons for their struggle. Finally, Priest has a purpose to life and his performance throughout the film is very restrained and low-key. This, I'm sure, is a big disappointment to fans who want the confident and ultra-bad anti-hero--not this confused and more likable guy. I appreciated, however, that the character finally showed some conscience and a sense of purpose (to quote Steven Martin from "The Jerk"--'I found my purpose!!').I do agree with one of the reviews that complained that it took so long for this plot to develop. It was clearly a slow film and could easily have been tightened up quite a bit. Also, I agree that the soundtrack was incredibly disappointing, as the original film had one of the best blaxsploitation scores ever--second only to the one from "Shaft". As a result, the film is certainly watchable but not a whole lot more. It's a shame, as the plot wasn't a bad idea--it just was so slow and dull when it should have been anything but.By the way, one thing to look for if you do see the movie is Robert Guillaume singing near the beginning. With his beautiful voice it's easy to see why, for a while, he played the lead in the play "Phantom".

vchimpanzee The movie opens with scenes of what turns out to be Rome. I didn't know where this was set, and I had no knowledge of the original 'Superfly', but I was curious. When I saw the Colosseum, I knew where it was.A group of rebels in an African desert gets ambushed, their weapons are taken, and the men are killed. Dr. Sonko is in the room when one of the rebel leaders is informed about what has happened. Later, Dr. Sonko goes to Rome. As it turns out, he wants Priest to help him.The first half of the movie didn't make a lot of sense, possibly because I didn't know the characters. I know they were playing poker, and that's about it. I did like Jordan Gaines, who was funny, and I wouldn't have recognized him had I not seen Robert Guillaume's name in the credits. I enjoyed hearing Priest say things like 'Can you dig it?' The music added to the movie, especially where there was what sounded like a traditional African performance mixed with 70s American soul. Scenes of African culture about halfway through the movie, including women carrying baskets on their heads, and people doing local crafts--these added to the movie as well.Roscoe Lee Browne is such an excellent actor. So I was surprised that he seemed distracted by his French accent, and not as talented as usual. But when he gave his big speech to Priest about why Priest should care about Umbia (I'm guessing at the spelling), THAT was the Roscoe Lee Browne I expected.Sheila Frasier did a good job as Georgia. Ron O'Neal's ability came through more in the second half, with some good though violent scenes where Priest had to use both intelligence and physical ability. The ending was great.I'd like to see the original 'Superfly'.

Wizard-8 The premise of this sequel is not a bad one: a retired Priest, living in Europe, has his conscious stirred by African rebels needing help overthrowing their colonial government, and decides to help them. However, this movie takes forever to get started, and then takes forever to get to an end that feels unsatisfying and unfinished. Unlike the first movie, the musical score is terrible. It's no wonder this movie bombed in theaters and took forever to be released on video.