Project Power: Art’s Superpower Explained | Screen Rant
Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Project Power.
Humans can acquire animal-derived superpowers by swallowing a pill in Project Power, so what's the wild kingdom inspiration for Art's supernatural strengths? The Netflix movie centers on an unregulated street drug named Power that provides a supernatural high for five minutes. However, side effects include violent reactions and even death by explosion. First-time Power users can't know for sure what will happen to them, which allows for plenty of character conflict and WTF moments. As for Art, he's a cool customer who only ingests Power when he needs a big rush.
Set in New Orleans, Project Power focuses on Art's attempts to find his missing daughter, Tracy. Along the way, he encounters a police officer named Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who acquires Power from a local teenage dealer named Robin (Dominique Fishback). An early twist shows that Frank has bulletproof abilities, and so he keeps taking the drug to effectively combat a bigger problem that's taking over his city. Art tracks down Robin and even threatens to kill her, but then drops his guard in the name of Power transparency. Years prior, a company named Teleios tested out their Power product on Art, who then passed on his powers to Tracy. In the present, Teleios wants to use Tracy to build a brave new world, in which humans can fully tap into their DNA potential.
Art's superhero powers were inspired by the pistol shrimp. Early on, he claims that the crustacean “vaporizes the water around it… eight thousand degrees hotter than the surface of the sun.” Sure enough, Art later channels his inner pistol shrimp in Project Power's final fight, but only after telling Frank that he'd been saving a Power pill as a "last resort." Unfortunately for Teleios, Art unloads his pistol shrimp energy all over them with a fiery blast, which is comparable to the inspirational crustacean's actual killing techniques. In the deep blue sea, pistol shrimp are known for being quite noisy, as they use a special claw that snaps and creates a cavitation bubble explosion when they need to eat. Art's strengths in Project Power are comparable to the pistol shrimp snap.
Les Kaufman, a professor of biology at Boston University's marine program, recently shared his thoughts about Project Power with Vulture, and provided some insight about pistol shrimp techniques. He states that the crustaceans "create cavitation bubbles that are so powerful that they reach temperatures almost as those on the surface of the sun." In Project Power, Art essentially does the same thing, and with the grace of a man who knows that humanity will benefit as a result. Kaufman also says that Project Power is authentic to the pistol shrimp experience, at least in how Art reacts after consuming his pill:
"They [pistol shrimp] can snap multiple times in succession. But if they were the size of Jamie Foxx it would be a different story, so in a sense, this might be accurate."
When one observes the pistol shrimp's "sonic weapon" in action, it's not hard to imagine Foxx returning for Project Power 2. The visual of a crustacean cocking a claw like a gun is purely cinematic, and would translate well to a Netflix sequel. Project Power does indeed set up future installments, but it's unclear if Art will begin anew somewhere else, or decide to fight crime in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Once pistol shrimp powers are acquired, it can be difficult to let go.