Average but Entertaining
Summary
Project Power is diverting enough with Joseph Gordon-Levitt stealing every scene; there are some decent visual effects even if some of the action felt a little incoherent so if you need your superpower fix you should give it a watch this weekend… or go to Amazon and watch The Boys again instead.
Plot: On the streets of New Orleans, word begins to spread about a mysterious new pill that unlocks superpowers unique to each user. The catch: You don’t know what will happen until you take it. While some develop bulletproof skin, invisibility, and super strength, others exhibit a deadlier reaction. But when the pill escalates crime within the city to dangerous levels, a local cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) teams with a teenage dealer (Dominique Fishback) and a former soldier fueled by a secret vendetta (Jamie Foxx) to fight power with power and risk taking the pill in order to track down and stop the group responsible for creating it.
Review: We all know that Netflix movies can be hit or miss and Project Power is their latest action sci-fi venture that is enjoyable enough with some impressive visual effects and a game cast but I found it never really used its R rating to its fullest. The idea of the superpowers I felt could have been explored more and you could have had a more chaotic world. In that regard I’d recommend The Boys instead…
I was sold by the casting of Joseph Gordon-Levitt who I think is a great actor and he steals the movie with the best scenes and dialogue. He provides a lot of the humour and his Clint Eastwood moments are definite highlights.
I used to find Jamie Foxx mumbled in a lot of movies but I heard him loud and clear in this; I thought he was an interesting character who was unpredictable but also gave the story some heart. I also found Dominique Fishback made her character Robin very appealing.
Project Power really lacked a decent villain though with no one really making an impact; also was it just me or was it difficult to make out what was going on in a lot of the action scenes? There were some cool ideas in terms of camera trickery but I found it mostly distracting and it took away from some of the set-pieces.
The music score was rather awesome and electronic sounding which worked well although there’s nothing all that memorable about it… kind of like the movie really…
Overall, if you’re having superhero movie withdrawal symptoms then maybe Project Power will satiate your need; Joseph Gordon-Levitt elevates it with his sheer charisma and one-liners so if you’re looking for something to divert your mind for a few hours this weekend you could do worse.