Screenplay:
Mattson TomlinCinematography:
Michael SimmondsComposer:
Joseph TrapaneseCast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jamie Foxx, Rodrigo Santoro, Machine Gun Kelly, Amy Landecker, Courtney B. Vance, Tait Fletcher, Allen Maldonado, Yoshua Sudarso (more)VOD (1)
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An ex-soldier, a teen and a cop collide in New Orleans as they hunt for the source behind a dangerous new pill that grants users temporary superpowers. (Netflix)
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Reviews (9)
Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are fine actors, but when they have nothing to play, it's tough. Project Power is yet another generic Netflix movie where all the racial quotas were dutifully observed and where at least one scene contained a completely direct critique of racist white behavior. I'm getting tired of it. I'm naturally accepting that racial issues are all the rage these days and that Netflix needs to go with the times. But that contemporary paradigm can't obscure the fact that, from a filmmaking standpoint, this film is subpar in every way, and the appeal to #blacklivesmatter here feels terribly empty.
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As expected, a typically tarted-up big movie in the Marvel style – it has the frantic editing, the flowery camera rides and lots of slow motion that is supposed to highlight some of the early action sequences. The directors try to keep the viewer entertained and, especially at the beginning, push the story forward quickly, but the uninteresting script makes their efforts increasingly counterproductive. We look forward in anticipation to a playful reveal of all the possibilities offered by the illegal super-hero pills, but in the end we don’t get much. After the first two scenes that show the positive and negative effects of the “drug”, and once the three main characters have been placed on the motivational chessboard, we get a very sloppy fairytale packed with clichés that fully forgets about working with the curiosity of the viewer and only relies on fairground attractions. Those attractions, by the way, aren’t even that impressive (the budget was 85 million, which is not a lot today) and the execution is so boring that it’s almost annoying – I get the blandness of the violence that many of the confrontations and physical transformations would warrant if this wasn’t a Marvel-like, mass-appeal thing for Netflix, but I don’t like the chaotic edition, the dark staging and the numbingly repetitive montage of the internal effects of the pill, which were a little annoying already in Requiem for a Dream. The actors are fine, of course, Foxx and Levitt have enough charisma to hold their not very interesting characters above water, but despite the nicely drawn lines in the style of a buddy movie, they never manage to generate a sincere interest in their fates – you can safely predict how the story will end, while the climax in the style of your average action flick with a clear absence of the “super” before the “hero” is a huge disappointment. Not to mention that the biggest MacGuffin of the story remains pretty unexplained overall and feels only forced… It will certainly fulfil its purpose as a successful snack on Netflix – the popularity of super-heroes is still high – but in this case the expectations where more than a derivative consumer product to fill the grid. If the creators had made a ten minute short instead, it would have been a lot better. 45%
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Project Power is sort of alternative, black version of Push (has it been 11 years already?), with a lot of rapping and talk about oppression. It moves along quite well, but you soon forget the generic storyline, even though the original idea and the world where it all takes place are interesting. Thanks to the great cast and the setting in New Orleans, Project Power is a really good watch. The action scenes are very convincing, but contain nothing new. All said, this is a good TV flick.
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I have sympathy for it because, with its empowerment message, it gets on the nerves of the herd of local brownish bastards. It has balls and an idea, but unfortunately they can't replace the naivety, the cumbersome start and the chaotic editing. Similarly to Extraction, there is no clear villain, and as in the case of every Netflix original, the playwright went on vacation and never returned.
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This anticipated Netflix new release is not as good as we all expected, yet I'm quite happy and grateful at the same time, since if it weren't for Netflix, we'd see almost nothing this year. A new drug starts to be distributed in New Orleans that gives people super powers for five minutes. The film has a nice comic book feel to it, and most importantly it's R-rated, with a few gore shots that pleasantly surprised me. Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt give decent performances, the mutations produced by the drug are delivered in a fun way and I was most impressed by the camouflage ability where the colours change according to the environment and also the ability to bend joints. The action is more in the second half and is filmed very decently, and the pacing suited me, so although more could certainly have been made with the concept, I still had an exceedingly good time. Plus also for the music. Story***, Action****, Humor***, Violence****, Entertainment****, Music****, Visuals****, Atmosphere***, Suspense***. 7/10.
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