Not much Power in Netflix’s new action movie

A potentially interesting premise — a mass-produced pill that gives users a fleeting taste of what it might feel like to be a superhero — is squandered in Neflix’s latest attempt to jumpstart the action genre.

PROJECT POWER

TWO STARS

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,

Rating: MA15+

Running time: 113 mins

Verdict: Action adventure that quickly runs out of juice

A potentially interesting premise — a mass-produced pill that gives users a fleeting taste of what it might feel like to be a superhero — is squandered in Neflix’s latest attempt to jumpstart the action genre.

The effort of coming up with such an open-ended plot device appears to have short-circuited the filmmakers’ internal wiring.

Having set up a lawless, dystopian world in which a burgeoning underclass dices with death — the pills offer a genetic grab bag of possibilities, including implosion — to spend five minutes at the top of the food chain, directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman don’t know where to go with it.

And so they cobble together a storyline from worn-out action adventure parts involving a resourceful high school student (Dominique Fishback), a charismatic avenger (Jamie Foxx), and a maverick detective (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

Given the strength of Project Power’s line-up, it appears the actors also believed the film had more going for it than it actually delivers.

Robin (Fishback), a would-be rapper, has taken up drug dealing to pay for her ailing mother’s operation.

New Orleans detective Frank Shaver (Gordon-Levitt) has got her back. He’s also a regular client.

A good cop who doesn’t always play it by the book, Frank has decided to take an “if you can’t beat ‘em” approach to the city’s escalating crime wave.

The only way to catch a super-thief, he reasons, is to become a super-law enforcer.

Frustrated by a growing tendency for faceless men in black to take over his crime scene, he pops one of the pills to catch a bank robber.

Frank’s miraculous recovery from a gunshot to the head, received as a result of the resultant chase, sees him divested off his badge.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, The Major (Fox) is dispensing his own version of justice.

A decorated soldier who has been chewed up and spat out by the system, nothing is going to get in the way of his mission to get his daughter back.

There’s nothing even remotely original about Project Power’s world-building, but it gets the job done.

A series of spectacular explosions reflect Netflix’s increasing willingness to invest in visual effects (Extraction, 6 Underground, The Old Guard).

While there’s merit in the filmmakers’ decision to let a young African American woman’s intelligence and ingenuity triumph over institutional and individual muscle, Project Power ultimately plays like an MA-rated kids flick.

It’s a hardcore action adventure with a surprisingly saccharine resolution. And the insipid bad guys don’t do it any favours.

*Project Power is now streaming on Netflix

BOYS STATE

FOUR STARS

Director: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss

Starring: Steven Garza, Robert Macdougall, Rene Otero

Rating: M

Running time: 109 minutes

Verdict: Riveting real-life drama

A DOCUMENTARY about 1200 Texan teenagers’ efforts to form a mock government might not sound like edge-of-the-seat entertainment.

Don’t be fooled. Boys State is as compelling as a political thriller.

The stakes feel as high as they do in any full-blown presidential election. And the behind-the-scenes machinations are no less
cut-throat. Adding an extra edge to this close-up-and-personal exploration of power, authority and dirty tricks is
the youthful transparency of those involved.

Boys State centres around
a summer leadership and citizenship program, sponsored by the American Legion, of which Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaug are former graduates.

On the first day, the boys are randomly split into two, 600-strong camps — the Federalists and the Nationalists.

Over the course of a week, they each must fill a number of powerful positions, culminating with the election of a gubernatorial candidate

Husband-and-wife directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss chart the evolution of several key players.

At one end of the spectrum is Westpoint-bound Robert Macdougall, a cocky, charismatic opportunist who is more complex than he initially appears.

At the other, there’s softly-spoken Latino teenager Steven Garza, the only member of his family to have made it past the first year of high school.

After initially struggling to get enough nominations to even run for governor, the stolid outsider emerges as an unlikely favourite — with his peers and the audience alike.

Astonishingly, Garza’s sincere non-partisan message even cuts through to the rowdy, conservative crowd.

His main rival is Italian-American Eddy Proietti Conti, who nominates his abs as one of his political attributes. It remains to be seen how far this guy’s narcissistic self-belief can take him.

Backstage drama is generated by two whip-smart playmakers.

Ben Feinstein, a double amputee who has emerged from a childhood battle with meningitis as a steely political operator, is a win-at-all-costs kind of guy.

Rene Otero is one the few African-Americans in the program. “I’ve never seen so many white people, ever,” he observes at one point.

Otero’s political views stand in marked contrast to the pro-gun, pro-life majority.

Yet when his mates warn him against attending the “conservative indoctrination camp”, he responds: “No, this is what every liberal needs”

Boys State simultaneously upsets and confirms its audience’s expectations – that’s what make it so fascinating. The courage, commitment and competence of these amateur politicians — and their constituents — inspires hope.

But there’s also a cautionary tale here about the efficacy of divisive politics and smear campaigns.

Originally published as Not much Power in Netflix’s new action movie