It will be interesting to see if Netflix maintains the level
of new releases it has currently been providing once movie theaters get back to
full business. Project power was a big
Netflix release this past weekend but may not have gathered much steam in
theaters had it been released there.
Project Power follows the storylines for three separate
characters as they converge in New Orleans.
Robin is a young girl struggling through high school with dreams of
becoming a rapper – literally. She has a
daydream about rapping her science teacher into his place. Her mother has
diabetes and they do not have health insurance. To help make ends meet, she
joins her cousin in dealing a new drug that has just hit the streets. Frank is a New Orleans police officer getting
more and more frustrated at the police department’s inability to stop the
spread of this new drug. He’s so frustrated that he’s resorted to using the
drug to stop those who are dealing it while his captain has to deal with some
suspicious government types. Art is a
veteran who has just arrived in New Orleans, following the drug, determined to
stop it and find something taken from him.
The drug is called Power – and it gives the user superpowers
for 5 minutes. The catch is, you have no idea what power you could get, and
there is a chance it simply makes you explode.
It could give you super-strength or bulletproof skin. However, you could
get a Morlock-type power and have to move to the sewers for five minutes. The movie
half-attempts to explain the science. Essentially the drug is spliced DNA from
a lot of different animals, and what we consider ‘powers’ are all features from
the animal world. This movie started slow for me, but once it got going, I enjoyed
it. I appreciated the three separate characters each with fairly developed
stories and the way they came together.
It’s fascinating to judge a movie during a pandemic because I feel like
I may not have enjoyed this as much if I saw it in the theater in between
standard summer blockbusters. Watching it on Netflix seems a better fit for this
tight little action flick.
The movie is directed by the team of Henry Joost and Ariel
Schulman who are responsible for Catfish and Paranormal Activities 3 and 4, as
well as the thriller Nerve. The story
here is interesting, and the action is good.
It does feel like a small, almost independent action movie, if that
makes any sense.
Jamie Foxx is good as Art, attempting to give him layers and
hiding his true motive until the middle of the movie. Foxx is certainly watchable, and while
subdued here, a good lead. He does seem
to be taking this a little more seriously than necessary and the movie may have
benefitted from taking itself less seriously across the board.
Joseph Gordon Levitt is always interesting, and I still wish
he would play Terry McGinnis to a Michael Keaton Bruce Wayne. Here, he’s
desperate and determined, but never slides into villain mode. His is the one character I could have used a
little more from. Perhaps Frank and Art are thinking about teaming up for a
sequel to continue chasing Power dealers across the country. I’m not sure we
need that.
Dominique Fishback plays Robin who begins as irritating as
any precocious high schooler in an action movie, but eventually won me over by being
more capable and level-headed in almost every situation than her two adult
sidekicks.
Rodrigo Santoro plays a dealer named Biggie who shows up to
flood New Orleans with the new drug. He seemed to be having a really good time
being over-the-top bad guy. Courtney B. Vance plays JGL’s boss, and Machine Gun
Kelly shows up as Robin’s no-good cousin Newt. I am not familiar with Machine Gun Kelly, and
Danny Glover had to help me google him to find out that he’s apparently a
rapper.
Overall, I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying
this flick. It could have used a little more fun and less grittiness and while
it seems to set itself up for a sequel, I think this would be best served as a
one-off: short and interesting, with a well-crafted story and interesting
action set pieces.
6 out of 10.
Also - this movie reminded me of this video...
Great review. I found myself wondering if I would have liked the film more had I seen it in the theater.
ReplyDeleteJoost and Schulman also directed Viral, which was a fun watch in these quarantine times. (Though not anything to write home about, movie-wise.)
And the IMDB trivia informed me that Machine Gun Kelly was also in Viral, Nerve, and an episode of the the Catfish TV show. I was not aware he was a rapper.