While many actors stick to one or two genres, Academy Award-winner Jamie Foxx has no limits.
Look at his filmography.
You'll find biopics, gritty crime dramas, slapstick comedies, superhero blockbusters,
slick action thrillers, and everything in-between.
He can do anything.
"Listen to my voice.
Am I lying?"
Even more impressive?
In Project Power, he does almost all of it in a single scene.
It begins like this: Foxx's character Art, who's also known as the Major, has been hunting
the criminals who hawk a pill called Power, which gives users superpowers for five minutes
at a time.
During this journey, he crosses paths with a suspicious young dealer named Robin, and
tussles with more than a few superpowered crooks.
When one such encounter leaves the Major wounded, Robin takes him to the vet's office where
her mom works and patches him up.
What begins as an amateur surgery ends up being an honest heart-to-heart that brings
both characters closer together, while also revealing their innermost hopes and dreams.
The scene isn't just a crucial respite from the rest of Project Power's hard-hitting,
fast-paced action.
It's also a great showcase for Foxx and his young co-star, Dominique Fishback.
Over the course of just a few minutes, Foxx shows how wide his range really is, and proves
why he's one of the most talented and versatile actors working today.
Jame Foxx has never been shy about sharing his political opinions.
In June 2020, Foxx joined a Black Lives Matter rally in San Francisco, taking the mic during
the event to rail against police brutality - and that's just one recent example in a
long string of public gestures.
Foxx's dedication to social justice causes has affected his career, too, leading him
to roles like real-life death row inmate Walter McMillian, who was convicted for a murder
he didn't commit, in Just Mercy.
So, when the Major tells Robin how American society is designed to keep young women, especially
those of color, from succeeding, it's not just the Major speaking.
It's Foxx, too.
In this scene, Robin tells Art she sells Power because she has no other choice.
Her mother has diabetes and needs surgery, and without health insurance, dealing is the
only way that Robin can make ends meet.
The Major doesn't condemn her for it.
He just tells her to fight back.
"You're young, you're black, you're a woman.
The system is designed to swallow you whole.
You gotta find what you do better than anybody else and rock that."
That's Project Power's entire thesis summed up in a couple of sentences.
In the film, rich elites use the lower class as a testing ground.
Sure, thanks to the ability-granting pills, pushers and addicts may get a momentary taste
of power.
But at the end of the day there's no doubt where the real power lies.
These days, Jame Foxx has received so much attention for his intense dramatic roles that
many younger fans don't actually know that he started in comedy.
In 1991, Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color, a sketch-comedy show with a predominantly
Black cast.
In 1993, he launched his first stand-up comedy special, Straight from the Foxxhole.
Two more arrived in the early 2000s.
In 1996, Foxx got his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show, which ran for five seasons.
So, yeah, Foxx is a funny guy, and his humor is on full display during the Major's discussion
with Robin.
"I rap."
"Oh I'm sorry.
Well what's your rap name then?
What, you gonna be the next Cardi B?
Cardi C?"
Their banter is already pretty endearing, but it gets better when Robin decides to call
Art's bluff.
Ready to go off the top, she tells him to give her a random word.
"Feline."
"Feline.
I'm 'bout to make a beeline, and every single accolade for spitting 'bout to be mine.
I'ma go from oh s--- and Goodwill to design.
I'ma be rocking Dior like Dion.
I'm C-Line.
Or maybe I meant Celine.
I'm feeling really clean.
Can someone tell them other boys a real MC is coming, no humming.
My name already tolds a different bird.
I killed your little freestyle; give me another word.
Give me another word."
"Seismograph."
It's a funny exchange, and it's also the beginning of a major shift in Robin and the Major's
relationship.
More than anything, Foxx's performance in the scene is just plain sweet.
In recent years, Foxx has taken on a sort of paternal screen persona.
In Annie, he plays William Stacks, a modern take on the original's Daddy Warbucks.
In real life, Foxx co-hosts the game show Beat Shazam with his daughter Corinne, and
the two have also teamed up for Foxx's directorial debut, the comedy feature All-Star Weekend.
Foxx brings that same energy to this scene.
Robin's father isn't in the picture, and Art's missing daughter is a major plot point.
As such, it makes sense that they'd fill those roles for each other, and it's hard to mistake
the small hint of fatherly pride in the Major's voice when Robin stops rapping.
"That's your power.
You take that, you leverage that, you use your power to take the system down."
That's good advice for someone in Robin's situation, and it feels genuine.
At this point in Project Power, we haven't seen Art and his daughter together beyond
some brief flashbacks, but it's hard not to draw on Foxx's public persona to fill in the
blanks.
Same goes for Art's positive appraisal of Robin's musical skills.
See, in addition to everything else, Foxx is an accomplished R&B artist who's released
five albums and has two number one hits to his name - "Blame It," from his 2008 album
Intuition, and "Fall for Your Type" from 2010's Best Night of My Life, both of which topped
Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
When it comes to music, Foxx knows what he's talking about.
Foxx's background as a comedian, a musician, an activist, and a parent all inform this
scene, but it's not just that Foxx has had an impressive and varied career.
It's that he's able to call on all of his different gifts when needed, blending them
together so effortlessly.
Somehow, all the pieces fit together, giving the Major a rich inner life that Project Power's
more action-based scenes only hint at.
"So what, it don't trip you up killing fools?"
"Oh yeah it trip me up.
But that was my skill set.
And what'd the system do, it took advantage of me.
And I know now I gotta work the system harder than it's working me."
Like every character that Foxx plays, the Major is a unique creation, and you'll feel
for him whether you've seen the actor before or not.
You'll also be impressed by how much range Foxx shows in just a single scene.
Whether you're a newcomer or a decades-long fan, this scene proves it: Jamie Foxx is very,
very easy to love.
"Oooooh, smoke that.
Alright."
Thanks for watching.
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