Absolute Power

Absolute Power may not be an overly special film but it was the first movie I saw in the cinema after leaving high school. I was certainly not the target audience but it had my attention from the first scene and maintained the suspense for the during of the running time, even if it doesn't build to much.

Clint Eastwood plays Luther Whitney, an expert thief who targets billionaire industrialist Walter Sullivan (grouchy old EG Marshall, in his last theatrical movie) while he is off on vacation. While in the midst of cleaning out the vault the President of the United States (Gene Hackman) enters the room with Sullivan's wife. Whitney hides in the vault, which has a two-way mirror, and witnesses the President get a little too rough with the woman, which ends in her fighting him off and being murdered by the secret service. The Chief of Staff concocts a plan to cover up the murder not knowing that Whitney is watching the whole thing. As the group leave he escapes, taking a crucial piece of evidence with him.

Initially unsure what to do, Whitney decides to taunt the President, though it's not clear what his complete plan is or even if he's just free-forming. If one should fault Absolute Power for any reason it's that it establishes a lot of plot and potential but never really does anything with it and ends with an anti-climactic cop-out.

Where it succeeds is with the small cast of characters who really make the dialogue and relationships work. Ed Harris as the confused but dedicated cop investigating the case, Laura Linney as Whitney's resentful daughter, and the austere Scott Glenn as the self-doubting agent make every scene effortless even when there's not much happening.

Adapted from (and streamlined and improved in the process) the bloated novel by David Baldacci (I call them 'Airport novels' – those 600-page bricks with generic covers featuring nothing but the title and author in giant gold letters in a tacky font) the screenplay makes many changes but they are all for the better. Eastwood's direction is slow and steady – or 'mature'. The pace and framing is the antidote for anyone bored to tears with the nauseating aesthetic of today's comic-book movies and CGI nightmares.

A curious thing about the beginning of the movie is that Clint Eastwood only has 2 lines of dialogue for the entire 35 minutes. I don't understand why he didn't cut them out and remain silent, which would give the film a peculiar edge.

HIGHS--

A very fun plot. Gene Hackman could vilify Ghandi given the right lines. Clint Eastwood as a high-stakes jewel thief?? I'm in heaven. Soft, subtle score; typical of modern Eastwood films. Intense finale that has you rooting for the bad guys, or is it the good guys?? You decide. E. G. Marshall's version of a scorned billionaire is a wonderful turn.

LOWS--

I have not read Baldacci's novel this is based upon. But I have to think, Clint Eastwood was not who he had in mind for the elusive cat burglar Luther Whitney. That casting was probably a little too self-serving. Also, I did enjoy the plot. But maybe a touch of more believability would have been nice. The murder scene at the beginning, while necessary for the remainder, may be a touch too implausible for my taste.

PARTING IMPRESSION--

Solid entertainment. This rating denotes that. Sure, won't win any Oscars, but that's not why you really want to see a film like this. We all root for these high stakes take-the-money-and-run type finales and here we are satiated in the chicanery, the likes of which could only emanate from D.C. Seven out of ten.

Luther Whitney is a professional thief, he also happens to be exceptional at it. During a carefully planned burglary at the home of wealthy Walter Sullivan, Whitney is disturbed to hear voices coming from outside the room he is in. Hiding in a secret room he observes from behind a two-way mirror the cheating wife of Sullivan with her lover for the night. Whitney is further startled to find that the man in the company of Mrs Sullivan is none other than the current president of the United States, Allen Richmond. He is then horrified to witness the couples union getting out of control, Richmond starting to get far too heavy handed with the lady in question. Things spiral out of control and during the fight Mrs Sullivan goes to stab the President with a paper knife, thus giving the entering secret service agents no choice but to gun her down. Sensing a political scandal, the agents and Richmond's Chief Of Staff, Gloria Russell decide to cover the incident up. Whitney, after making his escape, doesn't know what to do, who's going to believe a renowned thief, but crucially, will he be allowed to live if he comes forward? Dastardly goings on and government cover ups are merely part of what is going on in the search for Absolute Power.

Absolute Power is a fine film, but I'm a little biased because I really like the pacing of the picture and more importantly, I like the plot. It's true that the film fails to capitalise on its first hour set up, we are brought into Whitney's world and given reminders of dodgy doings that blight so many countries political machinations, but then director Clint Eastwood and his team fall in to the trap of adding strands that merely alter the viewers attention span, thus taking us away from what was a concrete and wholly engrossing plot arc. But with a truly diamond cast of professionals in the piece, the film manages to stay the good side of good, tho the ending is one that is sure to be a divisive one for any prospective first time viewers. Eastwood stars as Whitney and is joined by Gene Hackman (President Allen Richmond), Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Scott Glenn, Dennis Haysbert, Judy Davis and E.G. Marshall. William Goldman adapts from David Baldacci's popular novel, and Eastwood's direction is the usual steady professional job that he would further enhance down the line with the likes of Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.

Should have been a truly great political based thriller/drama, but as it is, I settle for it being a way above average one that has far too many good points to ever see it as being below average or bad. 7/10

Some actors, upon reaching their sixties or seventies, retire. Some enter into a sort of semi-retirement whereby they continue to accept cameo parts but not leading roles. Some, however, try and revisit the triumphs of their youth by making the same sort of films that they were making twenty or thirty years earlier. There are too many examples to list them all, but I was less than enthusiastic to note that Sylvester Stallone, at the age of sixty, has just made his sixth "Rocky" film and is currently working on his fourth "Rambo".

Clint Eastwood is a rare example of a star who managed to remain a leading man throughout his seventh and into his eighth decade, but did so without a desperate attempt to put the clock back. (Doubtless his status as a director and producer has given him a greater influence inside the industry than many of his contemporaries). In his early sixties he made "Unforgiven", one of the all-time great Westerns, in which he starred as an ageing gunfighter, and since then has made a number of other films, such as "The Bridges of Madison County" and "Million Dollar Baby", in which an older man takes centre stage. Occasionally his roles have contained elements of an old man's wishful thinking, such as his romance with Rene Russo in "In the Line of Fire", but even in that film his character's age was important to the plot.

"Absolute Power", made when Eastwood was sixty-seven, is another older man's film. His character, Luther Whitney, is a veteran burglar who has broken into the Washington mansion of an elderly millionaire named Walter Sullivan, where, from his hiding-place, he inadvertently witnesses a killing. Sullivan's young wife Christy enters the bedroom with her lover, who is none other than the President, Allen Richmond. What starts out as a consensual love-making session goes wrong when Richmond, clearly a lover of rough sex, starts slapping Christy. She takes exception to this and slaps him back. Things get out of hand, and she attempts to stab him with a letter-opener. Richmond calls for help and his Secret Service bodyguards burst into the room and open fire, killing Christy.

Some reviewers have described Christy's killing as "murder", but legally this is not correct. Had the two bodyguards ever stood trial for murder, they would have been acquitted as they were only carrying out their duty to protect the President's life, but things never get that far. Richmond is too shocked to take any action, but his Chief of Staff Gloria Russell, realising that if the truth ever came out it would destroy his career, organises a cover-up. When the President's staff realise that Luther was a witness to the killing, he is forced to go on the run.

This could have been the plot of a very mundane political thriller, but Eastwood, both as actor and director, is able to lift it above that level. Despite Luther's criminal tendencies, Eastwood is able to make him a sympathetic figure, a man with his own sense of decency and honour. He had the assistance of a very strong cast, featuring some of Hollywood's most accomplished actors. There is E.G. Marshall in his last feature film as Sullivan, Gene Hackman (always a very watchable villain) as the hypocritical Richmond, Judy Davis as Gloria and Ed Harris as the police chief who is investigating Christy's death and soon comes to realise that there is more to it than meets the eye. A particularly important role is played by the very talented Laura Linney as Luther's daughter Kate. She has become estranged from her father as she disapproves of his criminal lifestyle and now works as a criminal lawyer, prosecuting on behalf of the police. When she realises that her father is in danger, however, she comes to his assistance, and they start to rebuild their relationship.

The idea that their President might be a philanderer would have come as no surprise to most Americans in the mid-nineties, even though this film came out just before President Clinton was caught up in the Monica Lewinsky affair. Eastwood was not, however, interested in doing something along the lines of "Primary Colors" or "Wag the Dog"; there is no attempt to make Richmond a disguised portrait of Clinton, and we do not even learn if he is a Democrat or Republican. "Absolute Power" is intended as a thriller, not a satirical comedy. Nevertheless, it does tap into the feeling that many Americans have had, ever since the Watergate affair, that their Presidents cannot always be trusted to tell the truth. It is significant that the hero of this film is a burglar by trade; the implication is that such a man may be less of a crook than a politician. 7/10

There are many things about this movie which are nice. It surely follows the Eastwood/Siegel/Leone tradition, quick takes etc. but it's a nice film in many ways. A nice touch is the musical theme written by Eastwood himself, the second time of late he has done this. There's jazz anytime Eastwood can get it in there, but the performances from Linney and Ed Harris are convincing. This is a stellar cast that is used well. And yes, you can glimpse the Santa Monica mountains in Washington DC...