Looking for Action? Check Out These Two Action Flicks That Just Dropped on Netflix

Let’s be really honest, rare is the man who will actually sit through your third or fourth Korean drama and be engrossed as much as you. More often than not, to keep the peace, he sat through the one you’ve been raving about, or opted to stick by you but fell asleep really quickly, or was furtively occupied with other things on his smartphone. We’re just not wired that way—so ladies, if you want your man to obediently sit by your side this weekend, you’re going to have to entice him with some action offerings, and there are two new ones that just dropped.

Project Power

In a year, when one isn’t likely to see any major superhero or action film release; it’s a given that the streaming services will try to fill that niche. Earlier in the year, Netflix gave us a Chris Hemsworth shoot ‘em up, and last month, Charlize Theron played a badass immortal. The new one this week stars Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and it’s set in New Orleans, and has to do with a super-drug that bestows the one taking the pill with astounding superpowers for all of five minutes. What it does to your body afterwards is obviously beside the point. In a city, where so many feel disenfranchised and marginalized, this temporary acquisition of incredible power is the ultimate high.

Foxx and Gordon-Levitt acquit themselves admirably; and portray two versions of conscience and reason in the face of this kind of drug-induced high. There’s a very interesting turn clocked in by a young rapping female second lead; and throughout this film, there’s a patina of social commentary and introducing real issues that keeps the sequences between the action interesting.

There’s also a reported $85 million budget spent here, and the special effects are worthy of big-budget cinema releases. But remember what I said about social consciousness? It never quite pans out, and we’re left with an entertaining, but generic, sci-fi action film by the time the end credits roll along. Pity, as there was genuinely an opportunity to create a different kind of action film on this adventure, and invest our two leads with depth full back stories.

Bloodshot

This Vin Diesel-starrer is an obvious mash-up of Robocop and Total Recall, where science and technology are made out to be villains, and are used to control, manipulate, and ultimately dehumanize the ones they pick up and develop as so much collateral damage. A much-honored marine, Ray (Diesel) is put through the wringer to come out as a killing machine/ultimate weapon. What is done to achieve this drives the narrative of this paint-by-numbers action flick that knows it’s best to keep Vin mumbling his way through the scenes, until he’s required to dish out the action.

This film is actually one of the first Covid-19 casualties. It opened theatrically in early March, but never got a chance to prove itself as cinemas shut down all over the world. Fast-tracked to the streaming services, it’s funny that Netflix only gets to put it on their rotation this late in the game. But better late than never, as I’m certain that many guys will be more than happy to sit through this one. Sure it doesn’t offer anything new, but at a time when most of Netflix’s releases are teenage or YA-oriented, here’s one that’s predictable and safe, and perhaps exactly what the audience is looking for!

And arriving on Netflix on September 16 is a flick that intrigues—The Devil All The Time.

I know, all the fans of Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson will be in for a surprise when The Devil All the Time drops. The 2011 novel/source material by Donal Ray Pollock is pretty dark Southern gothic; and you’re talking about a cast of characters that are violent, perverted, amoral, and yet, celebrated. If the film adaptation is anything like the book, it will be a great acting vehicle for Holland. This one will definitely not be Spidey-ride nor a Twilight joyride.