Project Power

Cinematographer Michael Simmons, however, is doing a lot of the heavy lifting to make this movie look good. He crafts a humid, sweltering, sticky, New Orleans you can feel through your TV screen. If nothing else Project Power looks great, dripping in rich, vibrant colors that invoke the clear inspiration of anime and comics without being derivative. 

The cast feels as though they were just collecting a paycheck. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in another role where he’s trying to convince us he’s a tough guy, Jamie Foxx seethes intensely, and Dominique Fishback is your typical spunky indestructible child of every action film. None of them are given a lot to do with their characters either from the script or directors. There is nothing to any of the characters beyond their surface motivations and their incredibly sketchy behavior. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s cop is buying drugs from Dominique Fishback’s high school student. They have an uneasy but friendly relationship with him, trying to mentor her. He is framed as a heroic figure in the script, but he’s nurturing a relationship with a minor who’s providing him with illegal drugs. At some point, you do expect to see Chris Hansen and a film crew.

“…not just a horrible film but an example of how everything can go wrong in just the right way…”

And then there is the way the main characters just immediately trust each other. Dominique Fishback goes from being Jamie Foxx’s hostage to a sidekick faster than you can say “Stockholm syndrome.” Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s cop arrests Jamie Foxx’s vigilante only to be talked into letting him go after a conversation that lasts less than three minutes. Maybe in the sweltering heat of the New Orleans summer, his natural musk ensnares their minds? Who knows. These things are just kind of glossed over. But then very little of what any character does makes any sense.  

I think the biggest reason I enjoyed this was because my expectations were so very low. That may be the reason I was so willing to forgive its MANY glaring flaws. With a few more drafts, they could have made something truly mediocre. As it is Project Power is not just a horrible film but an example of how everything can go wrong in just the right way. The kind of catastrophic mess that is just too incompetent and earnest to be taken seriously. Instead, through ill-defined alchemy, it becomes unintentionally hilariously entertaining.