This is a non-spoiler review for Project Power.
From the moment I saw the trailer for Project Power, I thought that this film was going to be something special. It combined many experiments done in previous films to create its own great premise: A new and dangerous drug that can give you a unique superpower for 5 minutes is flooding New Orleans.
The film written by Mattson Tomlin and directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman has a premise that opens up thousands of plot opportunities to explore, for example, how was it made? how does it affect crime & law enforcement? What role can it have in the everyday life of regular people?
Check out our review of The Old Guard, another action-packed Netflix Original that came out in 2020 by clicking here.
These few questions open up endless possibilities, and what this film chooses to do is to follow up each of these questions:
You get a cop (Frank, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is chasing down the source of Power (the name of the drug). He is also a user and ends up becoming a rogue cop in the search for justice. You also get his regular sidekick; a girl named Robin (Dominique Fishback) who is a young rapper that has her own family issues to attend. And finally, you get a mysterious guy named Art (Jaime Foxx) who is hunting down those who are supplying Power in a violent quest to save his daughter, both of which who are linked in a way with the source of the drug.
The Review
The premise hooked me up from the beginning. The mystery behind how Power worked had me itching to see it in action, which the film uses it on its favor by teasing you about it. Once you finally see the drug work it becomes really intriguing how it will work on each person that tries it, as everyone can get a different superpower. Why? because the drug activates a unique genetic string that as humans we share with other animals thanks to evolution. However, as it can grant you great power, the drug can also hand you down its dangerous side effects, which range from permanent physical damage to a gruesome death caused by an explosion.
For most of the time, the action felt as it wanted to be dynamic and fresh, as many modern movies that have migrated into a more clear & digestible style that makes the audience immerse in the action and have a better understanding of it (Read this article on how to John Wick created memorable action scenes). But ultimately, the action in Project Power became messy and looked like any other action scene from your typical blockbuster.
However, there was a great exception to this in Project Power. What I think is the best scene by far in the film is the one where Art is fighting the organization that supplies Power while they where in the middle of a live demonstration for a powerful South American businesswoman.
In this long shot that lasts about 2 minutes, the action takes a step back and plays in the background, as the camera becomes trapped in the middle of a tank made of glass with the woman that was used as a demonstration, as she is suffering the side effects of the drug.
Save for the rest of the action setpieces, the direction & the cinematographic style were really good. The film felt really dynamic and creative with its angles & camera shots, which bettered the overall viewing experience of Project Power. On the other hand, the acting was good, but nothing out of the ordinary.
But in the end, what started as an amazing first 30 minutes, started slowly declining into a generic story where many of the payoffs in the film felt more like cheap & overpowered plot devices, rather than earned & satisfying moments. Also, the villains felt really superficial. They were overrun by greed and were evil for the sake of being evil. The story tried to give them some justification for their actions with two brief pieces of dialogue but it felt just like a small band-aid thrown in the last second.
I won’t get tired to say it, the premise, the casting & the direction were excellent. However, the story they chose to follow up ended up making me feel that Project Power was like any other action film. Save for Robin, I never felt attached to any of the characters and their personal quests, and by the end, I just wanted the film to be over as the emotional impact of the film became hollow.
For this and how most of the action was filmed, I can only say that this is ultimately another film of the bunch you’ll find on Netflix.
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