director
Clint Eastwood
screenwriter
William
Goldman
based on
the novel by
David Baldacci
producers
Clint Eastwood
Karen Spiegel
cinematographer
Jack N. Green
music
Clint Eastwood
Lennie Niehaus
editor
Joel Cox
cast
Clint Eastwood (Luther Whitney)
Gene Hackman (Allen Richmond)
Ed Harris (Seth Frank)
Laura Linney (Kate Whitney)
Scott Glenn (Bill Burton)
Dennis Haysbert (Tim Collin)
Judy Davis (Gloria Russell)
E.G. Marshall (Walter Sullivan)
Melora Hardin (Christy Sullivan)
Kenneth Welsh (Sandy Lord)
mpaa rating: R
running
time: 121m
u.s.
release: February 14,
1997
video
availability: VHS -
DVD
official
website
other clint
eastwood films
reviewed on this website:
- blood
work
- midnight
in the garden
of good and evil
- million
dollar baby
- mystic
river
- space
cowboys
- true
crime
- unforgiven
|
In
recent years, and especially after Unforgiven,
the critical consensus on Clint Eastwood has brightened considerably,
and deservedly so. He's become a skillful and compassionate director
and not a bad actor. But a lot of critics seem to want to believe
that Absolute Power, Eastwood's new movie as director/star,
is better than it is. The film isn't bad, but it's contrived
and dawdling, and the slow patches give you plenty of time to
reflect on the many implausible moments.
Adapted by screenwriting godhead William Goldman (whose credibility
is steadily slipping after The Ghost and the Darkness
and The
Chamber) from a bestseller by David Baldacci, Absolute
Power aims to be entertainment with serious political undertones.
The format is familiar: Disreputable Loner Discovers Corruption
in High Places. In movies like this, the hero must have a questionable
background, or else everyone would listen to him and the movie
would be over in five minutes. The film that was supposed to
kill this genre for good was, of course, JFK.
But no, here's Clint as ingenious thief Luther Whitney, a kinder,
gentler update of his arrogant art thief Jonathan Hemlock in
The Eiger Sanction. One very dark night, Luther breaks
into a ritzy mansion and is interrupted by a drunken couple.
Hiding behind a two-way mirror, Luther watches as the man and
woman fumble with their clothes. Then the foreplay turns rough,
and the episode ends with the woman dead. Some reviewers have
given away the twist about half an hour into the movie, when
the supposedly shocking identity of the man (an underused Gene
Hackman) is revealed. I'll keep my mouth shut, but it really
doesn't make much difference who Hackman's character is. He could
just be a rich and powerful man -- the same sort that always
turns up in these thrillers. The title promises far more intrigue
than we get.
Instead, we get many scenes of Clint in his cute mode, sketching
or wearing disguises or playing coy games with an admiring detective
(Ed Harris). And there's a nice subplot, involving Luther's tentative
relationship with his estranged daughter (Laura Linney, redeeming
yet another thankless role), that would fit snugly into a whole
different movie. But all I kept thinking was: A woman is dead
here. Knock it off with all the digressions and patented William
Goldman snappy patter.
The first reel or so, in which the appalled Luther witnesses
the rough sex and killing, has been compared to Hitchcock and
Blue Velvet, and Eastwood stages it deftly. Yet we can't
help thinking how contrived it is that Luther should be there
under these circumstances, helpless to act (if he intervenes,
he'll go to jail), and Eastwood's direction is unhurried and
calm when it needs to speed us past our misgivings.
Absolute Power is professional and sometimes witty. It
was probably a useful exercise for Eastwood. But he has gone
past this button-pushing pulp, and his phlegmatic style here
shows it. Maybe Eastwood simply can't do shallow stuff any more.
That's good news for his admirers and bad news for this script. |
