There was a pretty big bidding war for the screenplay for Project Power a few years ago that Netflix won, and now we can finally see some of the results in the first trailer for the film. The movie stars Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Dominique Fishback and is about a new drug that can give people superpowers for five minutes. The catch? You don’t know what your power will be, and it can also kill you.
It’s not quite clear from the trailer if Netflix made a wise investment or not. While Project Power has some interesting social tones about testing drugs on minority communities, it doesn’t look like it’s diving into that enough to make the film anything all that special. The CW’s Black Lightning kind of pulled that off already too.
Foxx’s ex-military character with a vendetta is pretty cliche, and both Gordon-Levitt’s cop and Fishback’s teenage dealer seem a little cliche. The concept, however, could elevate the film if handled well, as it’s a pretty unique idea. Then again, there isn’t much other dumb action coming our way anytime soon, so why complain?
This is writer Mattson Tomlin’s first feature film, though he’s also written The Batman and is writing the upcoming Mega Man film. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the film’s co-directors, are probably best known for their work directing Paranormal Activity 3 and 4. It will be interesting to see if they can make the jump to blockbuster action as they were also reported to be directing Mega Man.
Project Power will release on Netflix on Aug. 14, adding another big action film to the streamer and making it one of the few places where you can see multiple new ones. Hopefully, it turns out better than the last time Jamie Foxx starred in a superhero movie.
