‘Project Power’ Review

Netflix is getting a lot more star power in its movies. Recent movies on Netflix have had stars such as Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, and Ryan Reynolds. While star power can bring more views to a movie, it doesn’t equal good quality necessarily. Project Power is their latest film starring exciting actors, but the end result is a bit underwhelming.

Plot

Project Power stars Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and rising star Dominique Fishback. The film centers around a new drug called power that gives everyone a random superpower for 5 minutes. The trick is that the power is unknown and sometimes people who take the drug die from it. Foxx, Gordon-Levitt, and Fishback are all stuck in a plot surrounding the drug and their paths all collide.

Neat concept that’s wasted

Project Power has a very fascinating concept that hasn’t been seen before. A drug that gives people temporary superpowers has a lot of potential and could go in many different directions. However, the film is stuck in a formulaic plot that does the bare minimum with this concept. 

The power scenes are cool and have surprisingly good CGI, but there are not enough scenes of people exhibiting their powers. It doesn’t show the full scope of what would happen with a drug like this. It scratches the surface but doesn’t go deep enough.

Good performances can’t save bland plot

Gordon-Levitt plays a New Orleans cop who takes the power drug to even the playing field with criminals who are taking the drug. He’s good as usual but he feels sidelined in this movie. He isn’t given much to do except become involved in Foxx’s story. 

I did like Fishback in this movie. Her character’s likable and there is enough background about her character to make her worth investing in. Her character also is a rapper which does add some depth to her character at certain points.

Foxx is the heart of this movie and the most entertaining character. He is going after the people who took his daughter who are involved heavily with the drug. Foxx has a lot of charisma, even though his character is not the nicest guy. He often does some bad things, but because of Foxx’s natural charm, it’s hard to not like his character.

While the characters are pretty good, the plot surrounding them is rather bland. There is a company that plans on doing bad things with the drugs and they need to be stopped. It has been done before and while the drug itself is cool, the plot is nothing original. There are some neat action scenes, but not enough to make this movie truly stick out.

Final verdict

Even though Project Power has an intriguing concept, its plot makes it feel like a movie that isn’t very special. The performances are good and there is some cool effects work, but it is largely forgettable. It’s subpar for Netflix, but I’d be disappointed if I had spent money to go see this in a theater.

Final score: 2.5/5