'Project Power' Review: Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt Team-Up for a Fun But Forgettable Action Flick
Netflix’s latest original movie has plenty of powers, but never manages to be super
Given the current state of the country, the future of the movies is going to depend on streaming services for at least the rest of the year. Leader of the pack Netflix has the best record for acquiring quality cinema (two of their films were serious Oscar contenders last year) but their history is spotty when it comes to releasing popcorn entertainment. Their most recent release, “Project Power”, is nowhere near the bottom of the heap, but it’s unlikely to shatter any records.
A mysterious drug simply called “power” has flooded the streets of New Orleans, giving users temporary but incredible abilities. What power the user gets is entirely random and there’s a small chance they might OD and explode, but nonetheless, the pill creates chaos for civilians and law enforcement alike.
Robin (Dominque Fishback) sells “power” as part of a sting operation to help NOPD officer Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) take the drug off the streets. Meanwhile, The Major (Jamie Foxx) is hunting the source of the drug to recover a missing piece of his past. The three characters converge for one final to take “power” off the market for good.
Dominque Fishback as Robin gives “Project Power”’ s standout performance. She’s street smart and pragmatic but never seems beyond the wisdom of a teenager. “Project Power” would have been a much more interesting film if it had followed her character, someone who’s a spectator of what “power” can do but abstains from it herself. Instead, we get Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon Levitt as two characters who condescendingly lecture Robin about how dangerous the drugs are but always have an excuse for taking “power” themselves.
Jamie Foxx is suitable in this movie, mostly on badass autopilot, but he suffices as the lead. Gordon-Levitt’s involvement in this movie is baffling. The actor, who is (or was) notoriously choosy about taking roles, has been mostly on hiatus since 2016’s Snowden and comes back to screen for this? This is one of many indicators that “Project Power” was probably a much different, better movie in it’s early stages.
Significant plot threads are left dangling, clearly a result of editing the film down to the two hour mark. It is shown extensively that Robin has an aptitude for rapping, capable of spitting better rhymes off the top of her head than most rappers have on finished albums. And this goes nowhere, but presumably it once did was banished to the cutting room floor. There’s an abundance of cringeworthy dialogue in this movie, but even a bad writer wouldn’t set up a character trait this thoroughly for it to not receive any follow through.
A lot of the film’s challenging ideas were obviously truncated as well. Multiple times character’s discuss the ethics of drug dealing, but not to an extent that the movie takes a stand on it. Clearly, there was a conflict over what “Project Power” was about in the editing room; is it a melee-heavy action movie like “The Raid” or a morality play about the effects of drugs on impoverished communities? The final movie attempts both and is neither.
The editing and cinematography are a mixed bag. The choppy editing of the fight scenes is a blatant attempt to hide the fact that there was no fight coordination, but it also helps distract from the movie’s subpar effects. The superpowered people are all interesting in concept but the budget wasn’t there to do them justice. Quick, frantic edits do good work of hiding the rough details and letting the audience absorb themselves in the action.
Ultimately, the anchor that sinks this movie is the lack of imagination behind the camera. People who take the “power” pill gain extraordinary abilities for five minutes, but the fight scenes never last more than two. Characters spontaneously combust, or turn invisible, or control ice, or use their own bones as knives and almost all of them are quickly, easily dispatched, usually just by shooting them. The conceit of “Project Power” gives the movie an excuse to be overloaded with creative fight scenes and the ball gets dropped hard and often.
There is one fight, between Joseph Gordon Levitt and a man who can bend like rubber that does effectively use the premise of the movie. The camera work and the choreography are very good here, the special effects seamless, but it’s so brief you almost wish it wasn’t head and shoulders above all the other fights.
Further credit where credit is due: “Project Power” is a self-contained superhero movie. You do not have to watch multiple films beforehand and it’s unlikely that anything will come after. In a world of sequels, cinematic universes, and tie-ins, it’s refreshing to have a film that establishes it’s world, tells a story, and has a definitive end.
“Project Power” isn’t terrible, it’s not even bad—though, admittedly, it gains a lot of points by being on Netflix where it doesn’t feel like you’re paying for it. Most of the movie is competent, but it’s hard to heap too much praise on a film that tees itself up for success and still bungles it’s shot. The promise of the concept is what will have viewers watching to the end, not the execution, but it’s briskly paced and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. It’ll make for a decent afternoon.