Forgettability is the superpower of Netflix's new Jamie Foxx vehicle Project Power - The A.V. Club

The bone-headed, faux-street smart posturing of David Ayer’s Bright is just one of the elements thrown into the overcooked stew that is Netflix’s Project Power, a superhero movie that’s also an anti-drug fable and a father-daughter story mixed with a little bit of insensitively deployed commentary on the American government’s history of medical experimentation on Black people.

Jamie Foxx, Dominique Fishback, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kyanna Simone Simpson.

Regardless of whatever the hell is going on with Project Power at any particular moment, Jamie Foxx stars as Art, an ex-soldier subjected to government experimentation during his time in the service.

Robin sells the super-drug to raise money for her mom’s medical bills, an activity that’s led to her awkward, mentor-ish relationship with Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a police detective hooked on the drug.

The violence with which Art initially interrogates Robin is unsettling, but the remainder of Project Power fails to maintain even a notable level of sadism.

And when Robin and Tracy finally meet towards the end of the film, it’s refreshing to see two Black girls teaming up to save the day.