PROJECT POWER : Sunday 16th August 2020.

'PROJECT POWER' is an American Superhero Sci-Fi film distributed by Netflix that was released on the streaming service on 14th August. Directed by the pairing of Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost who have shared Directorial credits on such films as 'Paranormal Activity 3', 'Paranormal Activity 4', 'Nerve' and 'Viral' the film was made for a budgeted US$85M, and has so far generated mixed or average Reviews.




In a not too distant future New Orleans, a mystery distributor offers a sample of free 'Power' to a group of gathered drug dealers late at night, on the basis that they try it for themselves which will very quickly convince them of the marketability and street value that this new drug will have. The 'Power' pill, it turns out, grants superpowers, albeit unpredictable ones, for just five minutes by simply ingesting a capsule that alters the physical make up of the host subject - but reactions are mixed and even some of the subjects literally explode from within upon taking the drug.

Newt (Colson Baker) was one of the drug dealers present that night, and six weeks later, his teenage cousin Robin Reilly (Dominique Fishback) who has become a Power dealer, is nearly robbed by a gang of youths wanting to procure a supply of the drug. She is rescued by NOPD Officer Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who happens to be one of her regular customers and who becomes bullet proof via super hardened skin when he ingests Power. Meanwhile, Art (Jamie Foxx) is on the search for the distributor Biggie (Rodrigo Santoro), which leads him to the home of Newt. Newt has the ability to set fire to himself and rain down hellfire on anyone or anything in his way. However, after a struggle through his apartment block, he is eventually overcome by overdosing on the drug and coming to a very wet end under a shower and over a bathtub at the hands of Art.

In the meantime, Frank foils a bank robbery by a Power-enhanced thief who has the chameleon like ability to blend in to his surroundings rendering him almost invisible. Frank is shot at very close range in the head by the thief while trying to make a getaway, but having taken Power immediately before the pursuit he is rendered bullet proof, but is subsequently suspended for using Power himself by his Captain. Captain Crane (Courtney B. Vance) reveals that government personnel are pressuring him to terminate any investigation into Power, and gives Frank a picture of the man they suspect to be the source of the drug, Art.

Art uses Newt’s phone to locate and kidnap Robin, eventually forcing her to take him to the drug cartel's safehouse. Involved in a shoot out with a number of cartel henchmen, Art is shot in the shoulder. Before exiting the scene, he discovers that Power users throughout New Orleans are being closely monitored as test subjects for the drug. Art bonds with Robin as she treats his wounds and stitches him up (a skill she learned while working in a vet clinic with her mother), and tells her that after leaving the military, he was recruited by Teleios, a private defence contractor who experimented on him to create superpowers. His daughter Tracy, who was born after the experiments were conducted, showed powers without needing the drug, and was abducted by Wallace (Tait Fletcher), a Teleios operative, for the purposes of further research and experiments.

Art and Robin track down Biggie holding a private demonstration of Project Power for a potential buyer in the basement of some clandestine bar. Biggie claims that the pill’s powers are derived from the abilities of animals, such as the chameleon or wolverine frog. As the demonstration begins, a woman locked in a glass encased chamber ingests a pill and immediately starts to freeze, breathing icy cold air and turning everything she touches to frost. A gun fight breaks out with Art gaining the upper hand. He then interrogates Biggie at gunpoint and learns of a ship, the Genesis on which his daughter is located, but Frank wades in, having tracked other users to the demonstration. As Frank is about to handcuff Art and lead him out of the club, Biggie takes a dose of Power rapidly turning him into a malformed creature of immense size and strength. This results in Art, Robin, and Frank fleeing the scene as Art kills Biggie in an gas explosion. The girl in the glass case ultimately freezes to the spot and shatters. 

Frank duly arrests Art and on the way to the Police station in a patrol car informs his Captain, but Art explains that the Power epidemic now gripping New Orleans is really mass testing in an attempt to stabilise the drug, and that his daughter Tracy is the source of the drug’s powers. In turn Art is able to convince Frank that his Captain is in all reality taking orders from Teleios.

At a roadblock which Art was able to accurately predict, he has himself purposely captured by Teleios henchmen and taken aboard the Genesis. Frank and Robin meanwhile infiltrate the ship, and Art is able to persuade a guard to free him. Frank and Art kill Wallace, while Robin locates Tracy and reunites her with her father.

As the four search for a way off the ship, Robin is captured by Dr. Gardner (Amy Landecker), the head of Project Power, who demands Tracy in exchange for Robin’s life. Art confronts Gardner, revealing that Power gives him the ability to launch directed, super-heated air that incinerates upon touch which upon swallowing a pill he uses to kill Gardner and her men and rescue Robin. Using his power, however, costs Art his life, but Tracy brings him back to life with her own powers, and they all escape the ship in a lifeboat, leaving the stricken Genesis to limp idly forward, smouldering. The next day Frank intends to expose Project Power to the press, while Art decides to move on wanting to put the whole sorry and sordid affair behind them, telling Frank that New Orleans is only the tip of the iceberg! He gives Robin his truck and a bag full of money to cover her mother's medical needs, as she needs a lifesaving operation and they don't have medical insurance. Art and Tracy drive off, free at last.

I have to say that I got up off my sofa after almost two hours feeling 'meh!'. 'Project Power' is a mash up of familiar superhero tropes; of the criminal underworld wanting to rule over all mankind with some ill conceived weapon, or super drug, or some megalomaniacal superwealthy criminal mastermind or a combination of all three; while leaving it to the few do gooders left on this mortal coil to fight fire with fire and win the day. The film is all style over substance with the action set pieces and requisite Power effects well executed, but the plot is third rate, predictable and when the climatic ending comes it can't come soon enough. Dominique Fishback gives a grounded performance of a star on the rise, and Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt add weight to a film that perhaps should take a leaf out of its own book and swallow a pill and invigorate itself for five minutes and let the movie it really wants to be, out!

'Project Power' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-