This week we kick off our Hot Bloods Fantasy film reviews, and as tempting as it was to watch Dwayne Johnson in The Scorpion King for the eighteenth time, we decided instead to roll the dice with a Netflix Original. Project Power (2020), dir. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
Lauren’s verdict:
“Power” is the latest drug on the streets of New Orleans. It’s unpredictable effects have the potential to alter a person’s body chemistry and to harness fierce animal abilities. Teenager, Robin (Dominique Fishback), is dealing; not doing too well in school, with her mother suffering from chronic illness, she hopes to make enough money to cover treatments. Watching her back is Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a New Orleans cop determined to put an end to the onslaught of criminals utilizing Power for their own illegal means. While trying to locate her missing supplier, Robin comes face-to-face with The Major (Jamie Foxx) a dangerous man hellbent on tracking down the people responsible for manufacturing Power, and desperate to find the person they took from him.
Set in New Orleans – Project Power gives us long, panning shots of New Orleans’ own Cresent City Connection Bridge; the neon lights of Cajun clubs; dark streets and vivid graffiti. The film just thrums with love for the colorful city. From the very first fight scene, Project Power solidifies itself as a relentless fantasy tour de force. The combat scenes are polished, and the directorial choices are thoughtful and surprising. Fight scenes regularly going on in the background, as our eye is drawn to the plight of other characters. For a movie that revolves around superhuman abilities, Project Power still manages to swing safely over the pitfalls of predictability.
Gordon-Levitt plays Frank gruff and dutiful, yet still manages to inject playful humour into his scenes. However, nothing quite prepares us for the pure intensity of Foxx’s, The Major. As the story unfolds we see the complexities of his character. In scenes with Fishback, Foxx manages to dip lithely between threatening and tender-hearted. All things considered, our real attention is always drawn back to Robin, the teenager caught up in a violent world that she has no control over. Or so she says. Robin has grit, not willing to just sit back and be looked after, she surges forward against the corporation that manufactures Power. Fishback is charming as Robin, savvy and biting.
For fans who like their superhero movies a little more down-to-earth, Project Power is a super-charged gem.
5 out of 5 Pistol shrimp 🦐
Jeremy’s verdict:
Project Power succeeds most where I least expected it to succeed.
It’s a premise that on paper sounds almost a little too straightforward. Drug dealers are selling a pill called ‘Power’ on the streets. Take one, and you either get 5 minutes of time with a super-power unique to you (which, if you’re a first-time user, you know nothing about), or you straight up explode and die. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Frank, a cop (and also Power user) who is working to stem the tide of users who use the drug and commit crimes or kill other cops. In the course of his work, Frank starts tracking down Art (Jamie Foxx), a man with a military past who is hunting down the source of the drug for reasons, and who has come across Robin (Dominique Fishback), a young dealer and aspirational rapper who is selling Power to support her unwell mum.
We’ve had movies about powerful pills unlocking abilities beyond our wildest dreams before. And maybe a part of me felt that on paper, the core premise behind Project Power was just a little flat as a result.
But it succeeds entirely in its execution, and it proves that maybe keeping the super-power mechanics simple is what stories like this most need.
Foxx’s Art is fantastic as the tough guy on the hunt for someone close to him, and his action sequences are incredibly well directed and composed. The opening fight scene with Newt, a dealer whose thermo-regulation powers allow him to combust and become a man made of fire, is thrilling and the special effects work shows how much care has gone into the film’s visual tone.
In the real world the power goes to where it always goes: to the people that already have it. – Art
I was eager to see Gordon-Levitt in a new major leading role – and here, his acting was reassuringly focused, convincing, and exciting. I don’t think I’ve ever not enjoyed Gordon-Levitt’s acting, and it’s a joy for that to continue.
Only minor directorial choices irked me. An early scene shows Robin rapping in her high school class, her friends filming her, and directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman chose to cut between their regular, widescreen shots to the vertically cropped phone camera orientation. It’s a technique that won’t age particularly well, and pulled me out of the film.
Worth praising is Michael Simmonds’ cinematography of the streets of New Orleans – particularly at nighttime. Yellow lighting outside a dusk diner scene cast a beautiful glow and the colours felt perfectly balanced. Dirty blues and oranges in one of the final scenes were atmospheric and gave the film this grungy, otherworldly aura. Serious effort went into how the film looks visually and it pays off.
I’m a fan of directors willing to subvert expectations around how fight scenes should go down, and Joost and Schulman did this really well too. Fight scenes that felt teed up to be long and drawn-out sometimes ended refreshingly and realistically quickly, and those that went longer were always entertaining and suspenseful. One particular fight scene is filmed as the camera circles around inside a heat-regulated chamber, while the henchmen of drug dealers and drug buyers engage in frenzied combat outside with Art, and this felt so refreshing and imaginative. It didn’t need to show all of the fighting – it only hinted at what we could catch glimpses of, and this increased the intensity of the scene.
Best of all, Dominique Fishback stole the show with her performance as Robin. Her portrayal of the young rapper and drug dealer felt so multi-dimensional and emotive – her character was never once relegated to cliche or tired tropes. As one of our three leads, she easily led Foxx and Gordon-Levitt and grounded the film in her character’s life.
Project Power exceeds with visual flair, wonderful acting from our three leads, and fight scenes that are full of surprise. And while it might not be a traditional ‘superhero’ film, it should make those films sit up and pay attention – it could teach a few of them a lesson about storytelling and keeping things fresh.
4 out of 5 Pistol shrimp 🦐
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