Checked out the new but not-particularly-original Netflix cop vs superpowers action flick called Project Power. I saw one trailer for this in advance and I like the cast though I was leery of Netflix declaring they are the home of blockbusters now. Which may be true but is more depressing than exciting. Damn you Covid-19! 🙂
Project Power is about a new drug that is causing chaos in New Orleans. It unlocks a latent super power for five minutes in whoever takes it… though it has a non-0 chance of just causing you to explode. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a cop who is investigating the drug (and also taking it since it makes him bullet-proof). Jamie Foxx plays a mysterious ex-soldier who is also investigating and relative newcomer Dominique Fishback plays a teenag drug pusher. Her name is Robin… she has to team up with one or both male leads who they note are kind of playing Batman.
So the trio investigates and gets into random fights, most against super-powered crooks. The action scenes are ok – the movie has a very stylish visual language and action set pieces that are just kind of ok. And “ok” kind of defines my opinion of this flick. I think it tries – mostly visually – but it isn’t the best at anything it does. The actors do their job and certainly aren’t bad… though Levitt has barely any backstory and maybe wasn’t exactly necessary to the flick.
Yeah, this isn’t a particularly original premise and it doesn’t have particularly original ideas on superpowers. I guess this isn’t really a superhero movie so much as an attempt to tell a generic drug crime story using these generic superpowers. If that sounds interesting to you, then maybe you might dig the flick as long as you go in with modest expectations. I was ok with it. Just ok.
Score: 75