Project Power

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Project Power is the most recent Netflix project featuring a great cast, but the attention-grabber for me is the screenplay debut for Mattson Tomlin (also co-writing The Batman with Matt Reeves). It's the closest to a superhero movie any viewer is going to get for the following months, but at the same time, it couldn't be more different than the usual flicks from said genre. I barely knew a thing about the film besides the synopsis and the cast, so I was open to everything Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman cooked up. The concept definitely intrigued me, the cast convinced me, and the movie itself... didn't reach half of its potential, unfortunately.

Let's start with the positives. Even though Dominique Fishback had a part in The Hate U Give, this is her first big role in an also big film, and she's probably the best thing about it. She delivers a pretty good performance, especially for someone who has to share so much screentime with two experienced actors, but her rapping skills steal the show. Not only the improvised lines fit her character, Robin, but the way that she raps elevates every single rhyme. As expected, Jamie Foxx is remarkable as Art, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Frank. Both incorporate their characters seamlessly, performing their dialogues and action sequences with ease.

Character-wise, Robin and Art receive generic yet quite efficient arcs. Both are driven by cliche motivations connected to their own families, but the actors do a fantastic job making it all feel realistic and emotionally compelling. Mattson Tomlin's script for each character also helps with captivating conversations and memorable lines. However, both the story and the remaining characters lack depth. Frank doesn't have any sort of backstory or unique motives, being merely a cop who wants to protect his city. The "bad guys" (Rodrigo Santoro, Amy Landecker) represent the most...

Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend.

This is a weird one to categorize as it's a "super power" movie, but not a "super hero" movie.

This actually mimics a lot of "Black Lightning" with more of a Marvel's "mutant growth hormone" vibe without feeling ANYTHING like a Marvel movie.

Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon Levitt are great and carry the movie well, but I honestly found everyone else in the movie a bit lacking, which is a shame as Dominique Fishback has a lot of potential, but I don't think we see it: she didn't do badly, but it wasn't great either.

The story it self is interesting, and some of the characters are interesting, but this is definitely more of an action based movie where they can flash some effects and cool imagery to try to distract the audience until it gets more interesting.

It's really more of a drug movie with the occasional "burst" of super powers as they only last a rather arbitrary 5 minutes, exactly.

It's a gimmick movie, but it isn't bad. This is a good way to keep an action flick memorable and refreshing.

This movie had such promise. It could have spawned a new TV series akin to that of Heroes or the more recent comic book adaptation The Boys.

Instead it got trapped in a generic plot with a lot of unrealized potential.

The story isn't bad. It's just not particularly unique, especially for a power-based fantasy like this one. A man trying to take the shadow corporation that is distributing the drug called Power and a local cop trying to maintain order in a corrupt neighbourhood. The two inevitably meet and their goals align. It's a pretty standard formula, that is quite frankly, in need of revision.

The characters are interesting. Interesting enough to warrant their own movies. Jamie Foxx is pretty awesome as the rogue vigilante, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt holds his own as the good detective whose charisma is just as much of a power as the one he gets from the drug. But the standout performance is from Dominique Fishback, who connects with both characters almost equally.

Fishback plays a young dealer of the aforementioned Power, as a way to make ends meet for herself and her mother. In the meantime, she desires to become a rapper, and the actress more than delivers on the talent. This is definitely a character that I would like to see more of... but maybe not in this find of movie. While she is a major character, she does not play a major role, which makes one question her place in this story. Is she meant to represent the viewer? The one who witnesses the insanity of super-humans in the streets of New-Orleans? Or was she supposed to be Robin to Foxx's Batman, something she herself, suggested?

It doesn't really feel like she belongs. Despite handling Power for most of the movie, she never experiences it, and her dream of being a rapper is not truly touched upon.

The rest of the cast are largely forgettable, except for Rodrigo Santoro, the main distributor of the drug. This is unfortunate, because he gets less screen time than he deserved. Hi...

An interesting premise and some decent acting, but in the same year as The Old Guard and right on the heals of Synchronic, this is just way too similar. Also, on that same note, I'm sick of these same lame "everyday superhero" films. Come up with something new.