Project Power
netflixThe streets of New Orleans are set alight by renegade supes in Project Power, granted five minutes of superhuman ability from a narcotic of the same name. Fresh off the heels of The Old Guard, this feature from directorial duo Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman appears to be the latest in Netflix’s string of ‘gritty’ superhero stories. Intertwining this kind of narrative with an underground-drug element is nothing new, but it adds a decidedly sharper edge to proceedings. If only Amazon’s fantastic series The Boys hadn’t done the same thing better, and ballsier, the year before.
Project Power openly aims to be a crowd-pleasing action film. These sequences are energetic but succumb to the chaos of quick-cut filmmaking all too often. In a cinematic landscape inhabited by the likes of The Raid, John Wick or even Netflix’s own Extraction, it’s baffling that this style continues to rear its incomprehensible head. There is a moment, framed from the inside of a testing tank looking outward, that does a remarkable job of asserting the danger this titular drug presents, but it’s all-too brief to redeem the film as a whole. Nonetheless, they’re bolstered by largely excellent visual effects – bar one juncture that invites unwanted flashbacks to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The focal pill looks malicious, something reflected in the powers it activates, charring skin to a crisp, or shattering body parts in gory fashion. The film cashes in on a monster-of-the-week type appeal, as discovering the multiplicity of powers on show is one of Project Power’s most endearing attributes.
The central issue here is a pitfall many superhero films share: unoriginality. There is no main antagonist, rather, the antagonist of the film is its very concept: a pill that grants five minutes of power. It makes it harder to root for our heroes when they’re chasing an undisclosed foe. Furthermore, hearing someone talk about ‘the next step in human evolution’ whilst our protagonist cracks wise makes anyone want to smack their head against the wall. It is moments like this that expose the formulaic nature of Project Power, despite surface attempts to look unique.
Our main protagonist, Jamie Foxx’s Art, is a predictably charismatic anti-hero. Despite this, his backstory is one so derivative that it’s ripped directly from another Jamie Foxx-starring renegade-cop actioner, Sleepless. The real standout here is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He matches Foxx’s charm with a softer edge, a playfulness that makes him a joy to watch. Gordon-Levitt is fully aware of the film he’s in, and it’s great to watch him have a little fun following strait-laced collaborations with the likes of Oliver Stone and Robert Zemekis. The film has a sense of humour about itself, largely stemming from the performances, that adds likability to otherwise underdeveloped characters.
Another trump card Project Power plays is through visuals. Cinematographer Michael Simmonds doesn’t do anything particularly flashy with his camerawork, but still helps craft a lush and colourful world. You can feel the heat of the inner city, the heavy air at night. Simmonds’s environments are far more immersive than the majority of Project Power’s genre counterparts. There are several tableaus scattered throughout the runtime that meet the elevator-pitch expectations this film sets. A slow-motion shot of Joseph Gordon-Levitt being shot in the head, or the final release of Jamie Foxx’s power, are genuinely impressive moments. It’s a real shame that they’re spread so thin.
The film as a whole is competently made, but really comes off as more of a missed opportunity. Joost and Schulman are capable hands in the directors chair, at their strongest crafting crowd-pleasing films that move so fast they may give you whiplash. Despite this, they lack any real personality required to make something like Project Power stand out, especially in one of the most congested genres in recent cinematic memory. It’s is at its best when Foxx and Gordon-Levitt are doing their thing, but a film like this needs to rely on its own strength, rather than just the power of its stars.
