Film Review: Project Power

The mileage you get out of Netflix’s Project Power depends on how much you value a good script. Project Power does not have a very good script. The premise is intriguing; a street drug allows those who take it superpowers for five minutes unless it kills them. The film does a solid job of world-building in its near-future New Orleans. The film uses radio broadcasts and 911 calls to imply that the story’s scope is much broader than what the viewer sees. The film’s underwritten script, however, completely wastes that world-building. Neither does it tangle with implications it puts on screen.

The film centers around a cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an original test subject (Jamie Foxx) and a teenage dealer (newcomer Dominque Fishback) as they attempt to save the life of the test subject’s daughter. The dealer and the cop have a “professional” relationship disrupted by Foxx’s character.

Read: he gets the drug from her. The power dynamics in that relationship are suspect to start, but the film goes one step further: it makes Gordon-Levitt’s character Frank bulletproof.

Frank is a rogue cop. The “turn in your gun and badge” trope is invoked and Frank does his damnedest to make a good Clint Eastwood impression. However, that does not mask the fact that he is dealing with a kid and can become bulletproof whenever he wants. Fishback’s Robin is lucky he’s on her side, but viewers never see the consequences of someone in a position of power who isn’t on her side.

Project Power’s script doesn’t know what it wants to be. It throws several implications at the viewer, but never tangles with them. The film’s real villain is the broader societal system that led to the drug’s creation and proliferation in lower-class New Orleans. However, it shows characters working within that system. The film also can’t figure out how to portray “the system” in human form. Several antagonists get their moment in the spotlight, but none get the time needed to flesh themselves out and announce they’re the Big Bad.

Everything else in the film is pretty great. It’s anchored by strong performances from the three leads. They do their best with the scant material they’re given; on the page, none of them are more than their motivations. The script builds a three-dimensional world and fills it with two-dimensional characters.

Project Power has some great cinematography and editing, especially in its action sequences. One highlight sees the camera follow the action from a dying woman’s perspective behind a pane of glass.

Even the less immediately impressive fights are top-notch. Shots frequently stay on screen for a few seconds and give the impression that the fights happened. There are a couple obviously “fake” hits, but the editing is smoother than most big action flicks. The special effects are hit or miss. They’re pretty good for the most part, but several vital effects aren’t convincing at all. These effects look straight out of a Playstation 1 game. Hell, that might be generous.

But maybe that doesn’t matter. If all you’re looking for is a way to kill two hours, there are far worse options than Project Power.

Final score: 7/10