Watch Project Power on Netflix
Written by: Mattson Tomlin
Directed by: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, Rodrigo Santoro, Courtney B. Vance
Rated: R
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Plot
When a pill that gives its users unpredictable superpowers for five minutes hits the streets of New Orleans, a teenage dealer and a local cop team with an ex-soldier to take down the group responsible for its creation.
Verdict
A great premise is mostly squandered. Users seem to have the exact power they need based on the situation. The risks of the drug are mitigated. Would all of the developers really risk death by taking the drug for fun? You don't know what will happen before you take it, death is a real possibility. With a premise that powers are based on nature, I was hoping for interesting powers, but the powers get less interesting as the movie continues. This movie relies purely on the entertainment value of cool powers to the detriment of world building and the story.
Skip it.
Review
The premise is great. A drug gives you super powers for five minutes, but you don't know what power you'll get until you take the drug. You may even die. Once you discover your power, that's what will manifest every time you take the drug.
This starts with a bang, or rather a spark, with a man that catches on fire when he takes the drug. I have to wonder why only half of his face is scarred. If the movie is going to insinuate his human torch impression leaves him scarred, wouldn't he be fully scarred and possibly still in the hospital?
The movie definitely looks cool, but I wondered about the physics. Will the movie play fast and loose for cool visuals? Will there be a story? It's a fun idea, but what will the movie do with it?
Jamie Foxx plays Art. We're told he's the source of the drugs, but we know that isn't true. He wants to find the source. He uses a teenage dealer to try to find a source.
The powers people develop are awfully convenient. The cop, Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), becomes bullet proof. Whatever someone needs at the time, that seems to be their power.
The movie is all over the place, though I give it credit for the Henrietta Lacks reference. These powers are based on animals and insects' natural defenses and offenses so we're told. I've never seen a life form that can catch on fire. This introduces the drugs as a microchip tracking program, but I don't know if that's just to track this drug or the population at large. I'm not sure what it has to do with anything.
Powers are too convenient. If the drugs are a covert trial, why do the bad guys use them? Ostensibly this drug could kill you on the spot. Is it worth the risk? In this movie it doesn't matter, because we need cool powers to entertain us. I wish the movie had tackled the risks involved. If I was the bad guy rolling out this program, I assume for money, power, or both, I don't think I'd take the drug for kicks because if I die everything was in vain.
Art's power is teased as super crazy. We're teased for so long I wondered if he even had a power. He does, and while it's crazy I have a few issues with the damage it did and didn't cause.
It's a neat idea, but I'm left wishing for more of a story. That or pushing the question of whether it's worth it to gamble on death for power.
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