Film Review: ‘Project Power’
am not going to lie, I was extremely excited for Henry Joost’s and Ariel Schulman’s new film, 'Project Power'. I was a huge fan of their movie, Nerve, which was released in 2016, and I also love, love, love Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who costars in 'Project Power' alongside Dominique Fishback, Jamie Foxx, and Machine Gun Kelly. The film centers around a pill called, and I kid you not, “Power” and taking it gives you, well, powers. Or, in some cases, may cause you to explode.
‘Project Power’ stars Jamie Foxx as Art, a father struggling with PTSD who is trying to find his kidnapped daughter. Dominique Fishback plays Robin, a drug dealer who gets caught up in the madness, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays Frank, an off the cuff cop who finds himself entangled in the proceedings after he foils a bank robbery by a thief who ingested the pill. Rapper Machine Gun Kelly also makes an appearance in the beginning as another drug dealer called Newt, another addition to his long line of cameos in Netflix original movies. But the main focus of the film is that tiny, little pill. Sort of.
‘Project Power’ is not a terrible film by any means; it is quite fun, the action is choreographed beautifully, the music is good, and the performances are top notch, with the actors doing their best to elevate the material they’ve been given. But it is also a mess, with poor dialogue and the good, ol’ hard-to-shake Netflix brand quality. It feels a bit restricted, like it wanted to be something more than it is. At certain points of the film, I felt like it got close to breaking that barrier, but it unfortunately ended up missing the mark by a few feet. It was very much reminiscent of another Netflix original, the Will Smith-led Bright, although it is somewhat of a better film overall.
'Project Power' feels a bit restricted, like it wants to be something more than it is but ends up missing the mark.
Overall, the most noticeable aspect up-front is the film’s overall style; it is oozing with charm. This did not surprise me in the slightest, in fact I was expecting it to be a visually captivating experience based on the directors’ previous work and the promotional material I saw from the film before going in. And it certainly delivered on that front.
The film’s main weak point is the script, which was written by Mattson Tomlinson who also wrote Matt Reeves’ upcoming Batman movie. Most of the dialogue in the film was incredibly cringeworthy. One scene in particular, between Foxx’s character Art and Fishback’s character Robin, included a line so terrible that you can’t help but wonder how it made it past the first draft. In an attempt to bond with Robin, Art brings up her aspirations of becoming a rapper: “So, you’re going to be the next Cardi B? Cardi C?” This is just one example of many lines in the film that attempted to take advantage of current trends and cultural figures, sometimes at the behest of the quality of the film itself.
Which brings me to my next point: I do not see this film having any lasting relevancy (unlike ‘Nerve’, which I feel still holds up). ‘Project Power’ is definitely fun to watch, with many interesting set pieces and stunning visuals, but I couldn’t help but think about how ultimately forgettable it is going to end up being down the line. Yet despite all my criticism, I look forward to revisiting this one with my family soon. Because, though it may be a complete mess, I had a lot of fun with it. And as far as superhero films go, you could do much, much worse. Yes, ‘Project Power’ is, essentially, a superhero film. And a decent one at that, especially if you can look past its flaws (though I recognize that may be hard to do as some its flaws are glaringly obvious). Still, I would recommend this one to people who are looking for a fun film to watch to pass the time. Just don’t expect anything too memorable. – Richard Brown
Rating: ★★★☆☆
‘Project Power’ is now available to watch on Netflix worldwide.