One of Netflix’s latest big-budget releases was Project Power, an action-thriller with sci-fi and superhero elements. Starring Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Dominique Fishback, the film’s premise revolve around an ex-soldier, a cop, and a drug dealer forming an unlikely alliance to prevent the distribution of Power, a pill that gives humans superpowers for over five minutes. Much like other recent Netflix action films, Project Power set the scope for a sequel indicating a probable future franchise. It drew praise for its acting, visuals, and action sequences.
Here are a few cinematic picks that should be on your watchlist if you liked Project Power.
Upgrade (2018)
In a high-tech cyberpunk future, Grey (Logan Marshall-Green) is a man who tries to live his life in an old-school way. But after a mugging leads to his wife’s death and his own paralysis, he is prompted to turn towards an AI system called STEM that’s inserted in his body via a chip.
The system lives in his body like a symbiote giving him enhanced powers which he uses to find the identity of his wife’s killer. However, as he gets close to the clues, Grey realizes that he might just have to fight the very thing inside him. Upgrade drew heavy praise for its detailed action sequences and horror-comedy premise.
Limitless (2011)
Limitless is another movie that focuses on a power-bestowing pill. Bradley Cooper stars as a down-on-luck writer who chances upon the pill NZT-48. This pill fully utilizes the human brain leading to high physical and mental prowess turning the protagonist into no less than a superhero. As he rises with his new superpowers, he naturally makes more enemies who are intent on knowing his secrets.
Limitless is uneven at parts but it still makes for a good thriller with a compelling premise. The film even went on to inspire a show of the same name.
Lucy (2014)
Much like Limitless, Lucy explores the possibility of humans using the entirety of their brain capacity and how this would enhance all our skills. Directed by sci-fi maestro Luc Besson, Scarlett Johansson plays Lucy, a woman who obtains psychokinetic powers when a mysterious drug is injected in her bloodstream.
A fast-paced adrenaline rush of a film, Lucy is another action milestone for its leading lady while adding to the stylish (albeit a bit nonsensical) filmography of Luc Besson. The film’s ‘ten percent of the brain myth’ can be challenged for realism’s sake but Lucy still makes for an engaging action thriller.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
A spin-off from the Fast and Furious franchise, the film reunites the frenemies Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Shaw (Jason Statham) to use their brain and brawn and stop a superpowered madman. Instead of the heroes, it’s the antagonist (Idris Elba) of the film who is bestowed with superhuman abilities to become an indestructible killing machine.
The action buddy comedy is filled with several ridiculous action sequences that would defy all laws of physics but this is what one would expect from any film of this franchise. It’s an entertaining no-brainer that benefits greatly from the chemistry of its leads, the film’s superhero tones, and a supporting act by Vanessa Kirby who assists the titular heroes in their adventure.
The Matrix (1999)
Talking about well-choreographed action, pathbreaking visual effects, and ‘pills’, it would make sense to revisit the cult classic The Matrix. Directed by the Wachowskis, this modern epic is more than just another action film. It incorporates philosophical ideals (especially with its red pill and blue pill scenario) and several global influences. Keanu Reeves stars a Neo, a programmer who finds out the truth about humanity. It turns all of humanity just dwells in a simulated reality controlled by machines that use humans as a source of energy. Neo becomes the chosen one, the messiah who would fight these machines and restore balance.
The film’s action sequences continue to influence genres to date. It’s only a shame that The Matrix’s two sequels couldn’t live up to its hype.
Venom (2018)
Fans expected a dark cinematic treatment when a standalone Venom film was announced but audiences grew polarized with the final product that almost charted territories of horror-comedy.
Still, the Tom Hardy movie can be viewed as a good-enough guilty pleasure. Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, a journalist infected by the symbiotic extraterrestrial creature Venom. To satisfy Venom’s meat-eating tendencies and to stop a tech billionaire's advances at exploiting the symbiote, Brock engages in a series of misadventures. While the film does suffer from tonal inconsistencies and is surely not the truest comic book adaptation, Venom still has its share of fresh, funny moments making for a light watch.
Chronicle (2012)
Chronicle is one superhero film that makes audiences understand how true is it to follow the ultimate superhero commandment, ‘With great power, comes great responsibility’. When three high-schoolers suddenly obtain classic powers like flight and telekinesis, one of them seems to grow a toxic addiction to these abilities. Dane DeHaan shone in this early role of his, where he plays a boy maddened by his own gifts turning into a raging maniac.
Before director Josh Trank’s disastrous Fantastic Four reboot, it was Chronicle that established his career. Shot in a found-footage style, the film is a unique and realistic take on the superhero genre.
RoboCop (1987)
Paul Verhoven’s hyper-violent classic takes place in a crime-infested Detroit. When a police officer (Peter Weller) is murdered by a gang, he is revived back to life as a RoboCop, a part-human and part-machine with fuzzy memories from his past. The film was ahead of its time in terms of portraying the impact of privatization and capitalism in creating a dystopian society, and the risks of using technology to stop crime.
Apart from its high-end special effects and action scenes, RoboCop does pose serious questions while giving a satirical picture of Detroit of the future.
The Old Guard (2020)
Another big-budget unconventional superhero film, The Old Guard stars a group of immortal assassins who train a new recruit while fighting forces that intend to exploit their immortality. Charlize Theron has rebranded herself as an action heroine in recent years and her lead role as Andy bears testimony to this.
Amongst the trappings of its genre, the movie still delivers on high-octane action and a premise that can easily be used to create more sequels. The film also serves as a welcome change in form for director Gina Prince-Bythewood who had previously written and directed mostly romantic dramas.
Hardcore Henry (2015)
Shot entirely from a first-person camera perspective, Hardcore Henry is a highly interactive shoot-em-up film with traces of sci-fi. The titular hero Henry wakes up from the dead with zero memory but knows that his mission to save his wife from a telekinetic warlord who plans on creating an army of bio-engineer warriors. The film is as ridiculously over-the-top as its premise but the action and the camera work makes the film worth a watch.
Director Ilya Naishuller himself shoots Henry’s scene playing the character from an entirely first-person perspective. He also wrote and scored the film. A Russian music-video director, Naishuller also directed the video for The Weeknd’s False Alarm a year later. The video was again shot in the graphically violent first-person style of Hardcore Henry.