Though not as highly profiled as their teenage stories or romcoms, Netflix’s sci-fi slate is pretty solid simply due to Netflix’s churn of new originals. Project Power can proudly be a positive piece of propaganda in favor of the streaming giant, bringing some engaging ideas, a fresh acting talent, and that thriller direction from the Catfish guy. Plus their smartest move: getting the jack-of-all trades Jamie Foxx that Netflix money, so he might wanna come back again.
The hot new drug on the streets of New Orleans is Power. From a mysterious distributor, Power gives the user some sort of superpower…for 5 minutes. One of the dealers of this drug is Robin (Dominique Fishback) a subpar high school student trying to make ends meet. Twin forces threaten her little money making scheme: Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a NO beat cop, starts buying off of her to even the score against the hyperpowered bad guys, and the mysterious Art (Jamie Foxx) is on a mayhem filled trip to get rid of all the Power product, destroying every thing and one in his path.
Power’s premise is set up pretty terrifically. The way the drug is distributed uses real life inspiration from the Iran Contra Scandal for those who know what that is. That distribution network makes the stakes clear, who’s going to suffer clear, and how sinister the creators are. There are some really potent allegories set up with Art and his dilemmas, Frank and his pursuit of justice and Robin’s circumstantially driven moments of peril. Because Project Power isn’t 3 hours long, the movie doesn’t fully deliver on its set ups. But the pieces that do, particularly Robin’s arc, are extremely satisfying. In general, Project Power gives us more good ideas than bad ones with their storytelling.
But, if you’re more into a dude turning on fire and Jamie Foxx trying to take him down in 5 minutes, that’s part of the fun of the movie too. Or watching a superpowered cop try to chase down a super powered chameleon bank robber. Using as much of the budget as they could, the Catfish guys, at times craft a decent special effects fight or battle (sadly, the 3rd act fight sucks; oh well, lessons learned). There’s also a nice undercurrent of humor to cut the tension and add some fun to the proceedings. Dominique Fishback proves quite the rapper: watching her take down her health teacher is delightful. The movie then adds that nonchalant irritated persona to her dealings with Foxx and Leavitt, both happily playing 2nd fiddle to her. Foxx does a great job setting up all the jokes for Fishback to deliver a killer punchline, and Gordon-Levitt is HER wisecracking sidekick, getting to do all sorts of funny bits, the best being a Clint Eastwood monologue that kills. Again, more hits than misses, a win for a bunch of first time behind the screen talent.
Project Power isn’t going to win any awards. Okay, maybe it might in 2020. But it’s another solid entry in Netflix’s ever expanding list of solid entries. If they keep blitzing us with content like this, I’m looking forward to Dominique Fishback’s best actress speech at the 2021 Oscars.