Warning: This contains spoilers. If you haven't watched the movie yet, stop reading if you don't want your ending spolied!
Plot: The Russian roulette of pill popping, the movie builds on the idea that 'super powers' can come to you in the form of a pill, for only five minutes. It uses the factors of natural evolution to really drive the idea home, though there are some individuals who evolve into a blistering pile of human remains. They really take the whole 'Life is like a box of chocolate's' thing a little too literally.
There's a pill-popping cop (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who pays for the drugs to even the playing field between them and users. A fifteen-year-old 'drug dealer' (Dominique Fishback) who uses the money from selling to help her mother pay for her meds associated with her diabetes. And then of course, the ex-Army ranger badass (Jamie Foxx) who is trying to track down his daughter. The dealers volunteer, their customers are the lab rats, and someone is watching them to evaluate the pills efficiency. Supposedly the drugs are coming from a higher source, perhaps federal funding, and they initially tested it on military members (i.e. Jamie Foxx). What the ex-ranger didn't realize though is all the testing stayed in his genes, which was then passed on to his daughter. So she naturally has 'powers' and is ultimately the source of the pill.
In order to activate this pill, one must twist it and swallow. Throughout the movie you see the different results you could get with the pill, like invisibility, super strength, rejuvenation, wolverine-type claws, and even turn into an ice princess like 'Frozen'. Because the pill is a prototype, New Orleans is the only place that has it and is ultimately the testing grounds. Until of course, they stabilize and go global. They are trying to sell the product to the cartel. Cliche, I know. Oh and let's not forget the constant reminder that Fishback's character wants to be a rapper. Rating: 3/5
Entertainment Factor: Some of the action scenes were cool, but most were cheesy. Some movies can be cheesy goodness, this is not that. Rating: 0.5/2
Acting/ Screenplay: Some comedic lines by all parties involved. Fishback and Levitt were quite convincing, but admittedly Foxx's character fell quite flat. I did however, find myself laughing aloud at some of the outlandishness of the script. Rating: 0.5/2
Emotional Connection: Zero feelings for any of these characters really, even when father and daughter reunited. I may have had a momentary heart string ping when Fishback asked her mother if she wanted company, to which she played a golden oldie. Rating: 0/1
Overall: 40% - I want my two hours back
I don't know how this was #1 on Netflix over the weekend. ALL of the best parts of the movie were in the trailer, which is always a bad sign for me. It was entirely too long. And we all know from experience, when trailers are that long, they tend to spoil the movie for you. Every action scene, you knew what was going to happen based off the trailer. Tisk, tisk. Charface in the beginning, PopSicle in the middle, Mr. Hyde?? Not one of these pill poppers, with exception of Levitt's character, survived. Hell even Foxx's character had to be revived. Okay, and maybe that invisible man who was taken away and never seen again. Hell, after watching this movie, I wanted to be taken away and never seen again. I'm not some Hollywood hotshot and I'm certainly not telling anyone how to do their job, but if anyone saw how wildly unsuccessful the original X-men movies were, then decided to added multiple rap scenes, make the powers finite, and add really bad lines to it, you'd get project power.
Speaking of the rapping... ugh. It's not even that the girl was bad at it, but adding it didn't flow with the rest of the damn concept. Not one, not two, but THREE scenes where she's asked to rhyme. If I wanted any variation of rap or rap battle, I'd turn on MTV if they still do that sort of thing. Or perhaps search you tube or google, I love a good musical type film. It didn't belong in this movie. There are SO many talented writers... do yourselves a favor and find better content.