A flawed, ambitious, and deeply relevant genre entry. Watch it for Dominique Fishback and the ice-fight scene; stay for the uncomfortable truths about power in the real world.
By centering a Black father’s search for his lost daughter, a white cop’s addiction, and a young Black girl’s refusal to use drugs, the film weaves a complex social tapestry. It is a superhero movie for people who are tired of superhero movies—one that knows the real superpower is surviving another day without losing yourself. projet power
1. Executive Summary Project Power is a 2020 American superhero action-thriller film directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (known for Catfish and Paranormal Activity 3 & 4 ), written by Mattson Tomlin, and released by Netflix. Set in a hyper-stylized, near-future New Orleans, the film explores a high-concept premise: a temporary, pill-shaped drug that grants the user five minutes of a random, unpredictable superpower. The narrative follows an unlikely trio—a local cop, a teenage dealer, and a mysterious ex-soldier—as they navigate the city’s criminal underworld to find the drug’s creator. A flawed, ambitious, and deeply relevant genre entry
Beyond its entertainment value, Project Power functions as a modern allegory for the opioid crisis, systemic inequality, and the ethics of human experimentation. It distinguishes itself from traditional superhero narratives by emphasizing vulnerability, consequence, and the idea that power without control is a curse. The film opens in New Orleans as a wave of bizarre, unexplained deaths sweeps the city. People are suddenly bursting into flames, shattering like glass, or developing bulletproof skin—all for exactly five minutes before returning to normal (or dying). The source is a new street drug called Power . It is a superhero movie for people who