Project Power Review

Person A: "I saw the new superhero movie on Netflix"
Person B: "The one with Charlize Theron?"
A: "No, the one with Jamie Foxx"
B: "There's one with Jamie Foxx?"
A: "There's one with Charlize Theron?"

End hypothetical conversation.


That is how I imagine most exchanges about Netflix's new superhero movie "Project Power" will play out, coming out only about a mere month after their previous superhero flick "The Old Guard." Without question they are dominating the genre in 2020, as the pandemic continues to shut down theatres across many of the big markets, and you have to wonder how this will change the landscape once the Batmobile can come back out, safely.

Is "Project Power" better than "Wonder Woman" or "Thor: Ragnarok," two movies I disagreed with... everyone about? How many stars should it get? 2 stars? 3? Does it even matter? There is nothing else for people to do with their time, and therefore we view the limited excuses of entertainment from a wildly different angle. If the world wasn't closed down and this was released in the normally crowded theaters, "Project Power" would be just another minor bleep on the moviegoers radar. But it's not, and in a world where the most fun we can get finding a face mask with a cool pattern, it is the closest thing we can get to experiencing a slice of "normal" mass-marketed filmmaking.

It starts with a brilliant premise, pills that give anyone five minutes of superpowers. What are the abilities? Everyone has one, but you don't know until you try it. You could become invisible, become bullet proof, or even explode into a bloody pulp (I imagine that last one won't be made into a kid's Halloween costume). Then it throws millions of dollars in special-effects at the screen and finally, it benefits from the natural charisma of casting Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the leads. Audiences are treated to plenty of scenes of gunplay and fisticuffs, as the plot swerves from drug dealing, corrupt cops, noir, politics, redemption, family, and a whole lot more.

This is where I'd normally criticize the picture, as it never really follows through with any of the numerous ideas it tries, but hey, at least it's trying. It's all too common for movies, particularity in this genre, to hardly try, and here, we have one that goes for everything in the "how to write a screenplay" guidebook. It's messy, unorganized, and uneven, but it is never boring, and sometimes, even surprising.

Take, for example, how it treats all superpowers as evil, since you need to swallow a pill to get them, equating it to taking any illegal substance. There are no "good superheros;" no "Superman" saying that he uses his powers for good and that you should trust him. Again, this isn't something explored fully, but as one of the probably dozens of concepts here, it leaves you thinking about it once the credits roll. For how long after you ask? That depends on how much you want a sequel, for which there will surely be one. And if they can't afford to recruit Foxx or Gordon-Levitt back, no problem, just write new characters that have the same powers.