2 out 5 stars
Rating: Rated R for violence, bloody images, drug content and some language
Genres: Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Run Time: 111 minutes
Netflix’s new original film is a new take on the superhero genre, but does it deliver?
Jamie Foxx stars as Art, a former ranger who is on a mission to find his daughter. With the help of Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a New Orleans cop trying to save his city, and Robin (Dominique Fishback), a drug-dealer trying to save her mom, the three go up against a sinister group that is selling and manufacturing a new drug that gives you superpowers for five minutes.
With the superhero genre being over-saturated as of late, it is refreshing to get a new take. The concept that you don’t know which power you’ll receive after taking the pill was interesting to watch.
The three main cast members that this film centers around give astonishing performances. Foxx makes you feel the pain his character is going through as he searches for his daughter. We finally get the performance from Gordon-Levitt that we should have gotten in Nolan’s “Dark Knight Rises.” As in that role, JGL plays a cop trying to save his city. Fishback has been giving us great performance after great performance in every project she’s done, and this is no exception.
Where this film falls short is in its budget. This film looks more like a television show than a big-budget movie. The special effects are dreadful. We get great performances out of the main three cast members, but we get nothing from the rest of the cast. The second act of this film is slow and makes you want to give up on the film. Luckily, the third act does pay off.
Overall, this a new take on an overplayed genre, but once you get past the great acting from the three main cast members and the excitement of a new take on the superhero, there’s nothing here.
(Dustin Vitale’s hometown is here in Walterboro. He worked in the film business on and off since 2016, working on various projects and has been reviewing films since 2019. Catch Dustin on his YouTube Channel “Movies with Dustin Vitale” every Tuesday and Thursday.)
