Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Writer: Mattson Tomlin (Screenplay)
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, Rodrigo Santoro, Courtney B Vance, Amy Landecker
Plot: When a pill that gives its users unpredictable superpowers for five minutes hits the streets of New Orleans, a teenage dealer and a local cop must team with an ex-soldier to take down the group responsible for its creation.
Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Plenty of Sparks
Story: Project Power starts as we learn about a new drug, one that gives you a new user an ability for five minutes, not all are good though, teenage dealer Robin (Fishback) is protected by cop Frank (Gordon-Levitt) who uses the drug to equal the odds on criminals, while Art (Foxx) is searching for the people who are selling the drug.
When the three cross paths, they learn they want the same thing, the end of the drug, they must work together in an attempt to bring down the designer before the drug becomes a worldwide problem.
Thoughts on Project Power
Characters – Art has arrived in New Orleans in search of people that took his daughter, the former military man will break down doors, shoot anyone who crosses him, but will give them all a fair chance to explain their involvement in the situation. He is wanted by people who are involved, dangerous in a fight, relentless in the hunt. Frank is a street-smart cop that uses the drug to fight back against other users, he isn’t afraid to go against the rules and is left to hunt down Art before learning the truth, he is also useless with a gun. Robin is the young teenage dealer that works with Frank, she supplies him, while he protects her. When it comes to the dealers, creators and middlemen, we are left with pretty flat characters here.
Performances – Jamie Foxx brings the toughness required for the role, with the determination shining through from him, Joseph Gordon-Levitt works well as the gritty cop that is more honest that most on the force. Newcomer Dominique Fishback is great addition to the leads in the film, she shows us the desire of a better future from a teenager.
Story – The story here follows a teenage dealer, cop and a visitor to New Orleans who are caught up in the middle of a new drug that gives abilities for five minutes for the user, with a host of different consequences. We do get an original idea here that mixes the drug usage consumption with superhero abilities, showing how the fixes people want can come at a price. We do get the characters we would expect to see in the crime side of a film like this, only the villains are very flat, not given enough time to make a true impact on the film. We do spend a lot of the film waiting to see what powers could be unleashed, wanting to see side effects etc, with most being created well, we just could have seen some more bad effects.
Action/Sci-Fi – The action comes from the fighting, which is a mix of good and bad, with certain moments coming off very well, while we get the typical over the top moments too. The sci-fi side of the film brings a fresh approach to a X-Men idea mixed with drug usage, showing the effects, which could easily be seen as the true side effects of the drug.
Settings – New Orleans is the setting for this film, which is important for the bigger picture of the events, even if we don’t get any of the iconic locations for the events to unfold in.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are strong, we get moments when the transformations are happening, each one looks great and does enough to look fresh in the world where we have seen it too often.
Scene of the Movie – The sell meeting.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Could have seen more from the villains.
Final Thoughts – This is a nice original movie that breaths something new in the superhero idea, mixing it with the drug underworld, with a dash of The Purge to give us an entertaining ride.
Overall: Entertaining.
