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SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
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SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
Project Power revolves around a captivating concept. There's a drug pill being pushed widespread across the country. If you consume it, you'll have 5 minutes of power. The catch is… you'll never know what your power is until you take the pill!
While the high notion is arresting, the story surrounding it is something we've seen a thousand times over decades of films. But does that render Project Power bad? Not necessarily. The movie itself is energetic and fast-paced. Most of the scenes are interesting, coupled with the fact that you have two attractive cast on the forefront - Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The latter's character using said pills to level the playing field and the former's suaveness in finding ad lib solutions are amazing! Dominique Fishback's character seemed relevant at first, but once her kidnap's over, she becomes an unwarranted burden. Thank God the classroom rap scene's an imagination, or else it could have upended the picture's outcome then and there! However, the chemistry she shares with the protagonists are likable to an extent, with the word-prompt rap scene being a highlight.
Action and chase sequences could have been done a lot better, similar to the flashback narrations. Obvious product placements can make your eyes roll back, same as the real world references like Frozen. Rarely do the jokes have effect with most of them just pass by. Of course, the hook point is undoubtedly the powers. It's nothing crazy that we've not seen before in our constant consumption of comic books and flicks, but the 'not-knowing-the-result-before-hand' part is what keeps our interest at grips. Elasticity, invisibility, transfiguration, fire, ice, healing, bones, you name it!
A lot of the technical aspects are really good! Albeit having a mild cheesy undertone to it, the aesthetic palette work in tandem with each other trying its best to construct a coherent universe of its own, be it in terms of score, camera navigations, colors, visual effects or the overall production design. Make-up work and prosthetics are excellent! Some of the fisheye lens usage was purposeless though.