ABSOLUTE POWER (1997) A film review by Nick Schaden Copyright 1997 Nick Schaden
Ever notice how too many movies are getting geared for the "young" audience? You know what I mean, little substance, too little plot, just fast action, violence and sex that make millions at the box office. Amazingly enough, "Absolute Power" seems like a movie geared for people in their 70s, with a great plot and great acting, but atrociously slow and devoid of any excitement.
"Absolute Power" tells the story of Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood), a cat burglar who, while pulling off a robbery, gets in a hairy predicament: The supposedly "empty" mansion that Luther is robbing from has visitors. Luther hides, and sees a young women enter the room with an older man; we can see from the expressions on Luther's face that he vaguely recognizes the face. The couple start to perform rough sex, when things get too rough, the two start to fight, climaxing in a violent struggle where the woman nearly kills the man when BLAM! A Secret Service agent has shot and killed the woman, and this mysterious man is none other than: the President (Gene Hackman)! What a great and original plot!
To boot, Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman do a great job acting their respective roles. So you ask, why does this picture get a -2?
First of all, the movie is SLOW, and in many ways boring. For example, there is only one action piece in the entire movie, which starts and ends quickly. In addition, too much time is spent with the sub-plot showing the relationship between Luther and his daughter (Laura Linney). Simply put, there is too much time in the movie for interviews and talking, not enough for true suspense, plot development, and action. Even the opening robbery draws out for too much time. To put the nail in the coffin, the movie and plot wraps up far too quickly and easily.
Maybe it's my young mind at work, but "Absolute Power" crawls at a snail's pace. Only the strong acting by the two leads Eastwood and Hackman save the picture from further punishment.
Nick's Rating: -2
*** Movies rated from -4 (worst) to +4 (best), 0 = average movie ***
-- Nick Schaden Send your comments to: cpunut@uslink.net Check out all of Nick's reviews at: http://uslink.net/~cpunut/movies.html
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