This year’s list of the highest paid actors, as compiled by Forbes magazine, makes for particularly interesting reading.

For instance, Adam Sandler made only one film last year, and yet comes in at ninth in the top ten. The reason? Netflix. The streaming giant paid Sandler 31 million dollars for his efforts in Uncut Gems, which was part of his four film deal with them in 2014, worth a cool $250 million. So if anyone’s laughing all the way to the bank, it’s the well paid Sandler.

But he’s not the only one Netflix are throwing the big bucks at. Top of the list, for the second year running, is the actor formerly known as ‘the rock’, Dwayne Johnson. He made $97.5 million, with $23.5 million coming by way of, yep you guessed it, Netflix, for their forthcoming original film Red Notice. Although topping the list, the wealthiest star in Hollywood did get paid less than Sandler for his efforts, and yes, you can still hear Sandler laughing even louder.

This just goes to prove how influential Netflix has quickly become in the film industry, but as this latest Netflix original clearly illustrates, throwing money at a project doesn’t guarantee quality.

Something new is hitting the streets in New Orleans. It’s a game-changing drug, the likes of which has never been seen before. Once taken, it gives you a random super power, the only downside is that it only lasts five minutes.

The bigger problem the city faces is that it’s being mysteriously given free to dealers, so it’s quickly flooding the streets. For young teen Robin (Dominique Fishback), it’s a way of making some much-needed cash by acting as a supplier. For cop Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), he makes the choice that the only way to tackle these new souped-up criminals is to fight fire with fire. And then there’s Art (Jamie Foxx), who has his own personal motives to get involved and shake the power supply chain up a little.

They may all start off with their own agendas, but their paths all soon cross, as the mysterious power pill soon takes a grip on New Orleans.

There’s a certain amount of cockiness rising to the surface when you’re a directing duo with a nickname, but that’s what upstarts Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have, with the pair AKA Henry & Rel. Perhaps it’s supposed to convey a sense of coolness, which is the only thing about them that does, as their work to date (which includes Paranormal Activity 3 and 4, and 2016’s Nerve) certainly doesn’t.

The premise around this film seems built around the fact that all the superhero franchise had been taken, so they made one up of their own. The problem is, although an interesting concept, it’s so poorly executed.

Ignoring the science behind it, of which there is none, the audience is supposed to accept the randomness of the power of the pill the user takes and the five minute duration; in that respect it’s the oral equivalent of a random power-up in Mario-Kart. So say you actually buy into that, there are so few examples of it in action, that it all feels rather lame. So where they may have been aiming for something bold and fresh, the result is a pill-popping one-off version of the TV show Heroes.

With nothing substantial in regards to what the pill is actually about, the script has to do all the heavy lifting, which it does with the deftness of an anorexic toddler, particularly where the central characters are concerned. For instance, Frank is a maverick cop, we know this because he gets to wear a US football jersey for the entire duration of the flick. That’s Frank all over that is.

And although Fishback easily gives the best performance, it feels lame and clichéd for her to be told that her special ‘power’ is the ability to rap.

And as for Foxx, well, you can just tell from that glint in his eye that he’s clearly thinking about all the new stuff he’s going to buy with the huge cheque that Netflix has presented him with for appearing in this drivel.

And those funky hipsters Henry & Rel really need to focus on delivering a film with a coherent and absorbing storyline, instead of concentrating on pretty lighting effects.

Project Power then is just another title to be flung on the mediocre heap from the Netflix stable, joining the likes of The Old Guard, Da 5 Bloods and Extraction.

So that’s not the sound of new subscribers flinging their credit card details at Netflix, but the sound of Adam Sandler cackling wildly to himself as he’s driven once again to the bank to count his Netflix moolah.