Project Power

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, Rodrigo Santoro, Courtney B. Vance, Amy Landecker, Colson Baker

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

As the news begin to report sightings of kids displaying superhuman powers across New Orleans, it is soon linked to a new drug called Power. When taken, Power gives the user temporary superpowers for five minutes, with the user not knowing what their power will be until they take it. After her cousin is killed overdosing on Power, high schooler and Power distributor Robin (Dominique Fishback) finds herself in the crosshairs of Art (Jamie Foxx), a mysterious man looking for the main supplier named Biggie (Rodrigo Santoro). After Art kidnaps Robin and enlists her in his quest, a cop and friend that she supplies Power to named Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) not only tries to find her but investigates the mysterious circumstances around Power as well.

Neflix has been on a roll recently with their films. Does the streak continue?

I'm not going to lie, I knew nothing about this movie going in. As much as I pay attention to movie news, this completely missed my radar and I didn't see it until I was scrolling through Netflix today. I'm glad I stopped and gave it a watch because while the movie is ultimately silly and has some pretty unmemorable villains, I was drawn in by the characters and once the plot kicked into gear is a pretty solid action film.

It didn't start off well though, as the first action scene featuring Foxx and Machine Gun Kelly was so chaotically edited and had some pretty bad CGI. I was worried that the rest of the film was going to follow suit. Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are better known for their horror films (Paranormal Activity 3 & 4, Viral), than for their action thrillers (Nerve). Once they are comfortable, there is lots of fun to be had. They don't completely ignore their horror background though, as the negative side effects to Power can be pretty horrific, evidenced in a scene where Biggie tries to demonstrate Power to some buyers and things go terribly wrong.

Despite a rough start, I was solidly entertained. It's a unique take on having superhero powers and the cast gives it their all. While Jamie Foxx and Joseph-Gordon Levitt are the bigger names, this is a star making turn from Dominique Fishback. She has charisma to spare and easily commands the screen from her more well known cast mates.

As I said, the villains are pretty unmemorable. Outside of numerous faceless henchmen to be disposed of, the villains aren't fleshed out at all and it feels like the only reason we know who the villains are is because the movie told us. Rodrigo Santoro and Amy Landecker do what they can but they are so thinly drawn a gust of wind could carry them away.

Yeah, it's kinda silly and while it doesn't hit the highs of other recent Netflix films like Extraction or The Old Guard, I had fun.

Grade: B

Project Power is available on Netflix