The Power Series Review: Toni Collete’s Sci-Fi Drama Tells an Unfocused Story About the Imbalance of Power with an Inconsistent Tone (LatestLY Exclusive)

The Power Series Review: The Power is baffling to me. At its core, it has an intriguing concept with some great feminist undertones that demonstrate how one event can cause a huge imbalance in society, but it completely undercuts itself with an unfocused story that never really gets going. It's especially shocking because there is a message to be conveyed here, but it's so deeply rooted in an inconsistent tone that it falls completely flat in execution. Dungeons and Dragons – Honor Among Thieves Movie Review: Chris Pine’s Roguish Charm Carries This Fairly Standard but Fun Fantasy-Adventure (LatestLY Exclusive).

Developed by Raelle Tucker, Naomi Alderman and Sarah Quintrell, The Power is based on the book of the same name that sees a couple of teenagers receive superpowers that allows them to release electronic jolts from their hands. Slowly, it starts spreading worldwide and the show tries to explore the imbalance of power as a new matriarchal world is born.

What I like about The Power is that it attempts to start a conversation, even if much of it becomes muddled. It attempts to maintain some variety in its plot by being an inclusive story that highlights different perspectives of women receiving their powers. Unfortunately, that variety is just executed in, for a lack of better word, a corny manner. It feels like The Boys' comical seriousness trapped in a realistic world, and it lacks the appropriate tone.

This has a direct impact on the characters, who feel compelling at first but become uninteresting after a while. A politician finds herself at the centre of a cultural shift, the illegitimate daughter of a gangster seeking her father's approval, a girl from a conservative Christian family discovering she can do more with her power, and a journalist attempting to uncover the story that could propel him to new heights – that’s who we follow in The Power.

Watch the Trailer:

It's an intriguing setup, and the cast does a good job portraying their characters, particularly Toni Collette as Margot Cleary-Lopez and Ria Zmitrowicz as Roxy Monke, but the show doesn't give you enough to feel connected to them. It's a very basic story with the promise of something bigger, but I never got that impression from the eight episodes I've seen because I was burnt out by the end of it.

Not to mention that some of the characters come across as quite silly. The first episode demonstrates how evil the character of Bernie Monke (Eddie Marsan) is, as we see him punch his wedding cake because he wasn't satisfied with it. It's done so outrageously that I couldn't help but laugh. Because of this, a lot of the show just didn't work for me. John Wick Chapter 4 Movie Review: Keanu Reeves Impresses for the Fourth Time in This High-Adrenaline Actioner with Masterful Stuntwork! (LatestLY Exclusive).

And we finally get to the topic of The Power delivering its themes. It appears to be attempting to recreate the feminist discourse of Y: The Last Man while juxtaposing it with X-Men’s themes of people wanting to be treated equally, resulting in a jumble of ideas that never come together well. It all adds up to an unfocused journey that I wish had a better grip on itself, because there is potential here.

Yay!

The Performances

Intriguing Concept

Nay!

Execution Falls Flat

Inconsistent Tone

Final Thoughts

The Power doesn’t stick the landing. With an unfocused script and ideas that are completely let-down by a very inconsistent tone, I wish there was a bit more to chew on over here. It tries to deliver some ideas that are interesting, however, it just wasn’t able to grasp me. The Power premieres on Amazon Prime Video on March 31, 2023.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2023 08:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).