Project Power: A Review

First things first, I will try my best to keep this as spoiler free as possible to not spoil any major plot points. I also will not give a play by play of the entire movie from beginning to end. These are just my thoughts after watching it.

Quick Synopsis
Now if you don't know, Project Power is a movie that's currently on Netflix that has you follow Art (Jaime Foxx), Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Robin (Dominique Fishback) trying to find the source of these pills called Power. These pills give you a superhuman ability for five minutes and can range from being indestructible, to being invisible. The catch however, is that you don't know what power you'll have until you take the pill, or if you'll be alive after taking it.

The Review
The concept, in my opinion, is very interesting. I enjoyed that there's a specific amount of time to have that power instead of it being permanent, and I also liked the fact that the pills and Powers are randomized to an extent. It puts you on edge in a way because you don't know what power anyone could have and it can set up a lot of things, which honestly, it failed to do. Don't get me wrong, some of the Powers were cool, but I expected a bit more with how much they were hyping up the Power pills. I also have a few questions on how Powers work and how they were created, but I'll talk about the cons later on.

The plot however, is alright for what it is. It's not your average superhero/supervillain movie, but it's not your average mystery/crime movie either. It's a mixture of both and it's surprisingly done pretty well by how there's not too much of one thing being shoved down your throat. There is a nice bit of action that's not too over the top which is a good sign and one scene in particular that I absolutely loved so much I had to rewind it, but one thing that I will say negatively about the plot is that not too much is flushed out. I'm personally not a fan of information being spoon-fed to me in long-winded exposition, but it feels like a lot of holes were left unfilled regarding the characters and story. It also seemed like some characters were introduced for convenience and not because of any true importance to the plot at all. Which was a bummer.

Speaking of characters, as I stated before you have our three main protagonists; Robin, Frank, and Art.

Robin is a young girl who sells Power to provide for her and her ill mother and inevitably gets stuck in a situation that's beyond selling pills. As far as character arcs go, she doesn't really go through any type of major change throughout the movie. She's by no means a bad character, she's just a kid that wants to help her mom and is doing what she can to do that, but not much of her backstory is really known other than her wanting to rap and provide. I was really hoping that she had more potential than just being a character that conveniently knows another character, but they sorta make her work. If she were to play a more important role or was a big player in the story, it would've been better.

Frank is a cop that bends the rules and secretly uses Power to protect his city and to "level the playing field". He's also friends with Robin, his Power provider, and was tasked with finding Art to bring him into custody because it was said that he was the true source of Power. As a character, he seems alright. He comes off as your typical "save my city at all costs" type of cop, but is a bit more light-hearted than most of those types. He is shown to be a funny, quick-witted, and caring guy, especially when it comes to Robin, and always wants to do what's right. However, the connection between him and Robin is never stated and we don't know much of his backstory either.

Art is our man on a mission who's also trying to find the people responsible for creating Power. We don't really know much about him as a character other than he was trained in combat and was a test subject in a facility to create superhumans. It's honestly pretty bad that we don't know much about him considering we basically spend the entire movie with him. He comes off as this John Wick type of badass, but he's really not. Sure he kills people, but that's about the extent of his badassery. And of course, his special Power. He's also known as “The Major” to a lot of criminals, but it's never really said how or why his name is feared or how he got that name.

Action and pacing wise, this movie did well to keep my attention and made me nod in approval a few times with the action scenes. It felt like it was moving at just the right pace because I never wondered when the movie would end, or questioned why a scene was unnecessarily long. There were some moments that would make you question how or why a character survived a certain incident, but let's not forget that this is an action movie and action movies aren't known for being extremely realistic. It's not really on the level of excitement as a Marvel movie or anything jaw dropping, but it may interest some people who like something that might be similar to a Bourne movie. It's also surprisingly bloody, but not gory which I wasn't expecting at all.

Positives
I would say the positives of this movie would be the action, pacing, and concept. If you're into action movies in general, this feels like a nice change rather than the quick cut, guns blazing, explosion extravaganza that most action movies are known for. It can keep your attention long enough for you to be interested, while also moving along fast enough so you don't get bored easily or quickly. However, do keep in mind that some pacing may seem a bit too fast and some scenes may not make any sense because of how quickly things are.

The concept, to me at least, is the most interesting thing about this movie. Superpower pills sounds like it has the potential to do a near limitless amount of things and I would love to see the many directions this concept can go.

Negatives
The negatives I would say are the characters, the lack of story, and the little information we have as a whole. The characters are supposed to be with us through the entire movie and at no point did I really feel a sense of danger or major tension. I never thought anything would happen to a character because, frankly, I didn't know about the characters enough to fully care and they never put our characters in legitimate danger. I admit I liked them enough to be interested, but not enough for me to truly root for anyone. It sucks following someone through the entirety of a movie and not being able to know them at all.

The story had potential to be way more than what it was. I definitely wish it explained the pills more or at least how they were created. I mean, you'd think at some point we would know about the origins or something, but you never do. It's just there to spice things up conveniently and be interesting. There was a scene that tells us that the powers you gain are similar to some animals, but that raised more questions than answers. The story really could've been more interesting if they explained the main thing that the movie was marketing. Hopefully they'll go more in-depth if they make a sequel.

The final issue I have is the small amount of information overall. We know so little about the characters, their backstory, the pills, how the pills work, etc. It's basically like we were introduced to them, and then immediately thrown into a world where people just have them because they didn't care enough to build up how powerful the pills really are. I understand they may have glossed over details like that so that the plot could move along, but I'd much prefer an explanation as to how these pills work or at the very least a brief backstory on our main protagonists. They make it seem like all Powers are random after you take a pill, but clearly that isn't the case. Some characters would have one specific power no matter how many pills they take and it makes you wonder why certain people have certain powers. Frank's Power for example, is hardened skin that can literally stop a bullet at point blank range. Is it stated at any point when he started taking Power? No. Is there any explanation as to why that's his power? No. Is it still pretty cool? Definitely. However just because it's cool, doesn't mean it makes sense or explains anything. This is where I think the movie somewhat falls all over the place the more you think about it.

Final Thoughts
The movie is pretty good. Nowhere near being the worst movie, but not the best. It's most definitely a movie that you'd probably enjoy the first or second time you watch it, but can easily be used as background noise. I'd recommend it if you want an action movie with a somewhat interesting concept or need something new to watch. I wouldn't say it's a memorable movie, but you might be finding yourself rewatching a clip or two on YouTube because of how well a scene was done. Overall though, if you want to turn your brain off for a bit and not think about every little detail, you'd enjoy it because of the fast paced action. If you're the type to pay attention to details and figure things out, you may feel indifferent about it because there isn't much to dissect other than unanswered questions.
Of course though, you're free to watch the movie yourself and form your own opinions about what you like and dislike about it.