Hayden J. Cole
Lantern Staff
Since Netflix released Project Power on their streaming service last week, the movie has held at Nos. 1 and 2 on Netflix’s most watched and trending movie charts.
The story revolves around three protagonists and their journey to the source of a new drug sweeping New Orleans that temporarily give users superpowers. Robin (Dominique Fishback), a high schooler who dreams of becoming a rapper, sells dope to get money to pay for her mother’s diabetes surgery. Art (Jamie Foxx), also known as the Major, is a special operations soldier looking for his daughter, who was kidnapped in connection to the drug, and Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon -Levitt), a New Orleans police detective, tries to fight fire with fire by using the drug himself.
The movie has spectacular special effects, showing people on the drug having crazy powers such as thermal regulation, super flexibility and being bulletproof, as well as the blood, gore and violence of the film. While the film is about superpowers, it is very far from comic. Rather, it takes a very realistic approach to the harm caused by the drug, how it affects others, what it means to do the right thing in the face of hardship, how drugs can destroy a community and how far is too far in morality and science.
The plot of the film is written decently. While mostly dramatic, there a bits of comic relief that help the tone of the film and keep the audience paying attention. Throughout the film, the tone is very gritty and very dark. Foxx delivers a fantastically emotional performance, resonating with the audience that most parents would do anything to protect their children. Gordon-Levitt does an excellent job of portraying the difficulty of trying to uphold law and order in a community that does not trust him and views him as evil, even though he is trying to help. Fishback does a very good job at displaying just how hard it is to make ends meet in poverty stricken communities, and while she knows dealing drugs is against the law, she is willing to risk jail in order to help her mother.
While it is understandable that Robin wants to be famous and artistic, the movie only partly explains the significance of it, adding an odd element to the film that is unnecessary. As good as many aspects of the film are, it is not groundbreaking by any means. While Project Power is a cool movie, conflicting film styles and a lack of exposure and in-depth detail about the situation in which the movie takes place makes it confusing at times.
I give the movie a 7/10. While overall a good movie, Project Power did not do anything that absolutely blew my mind. Good action sequences and tense situations create interest until the end of the film, but lack of detail becomes annoying as the movie goes on.