"Absolute Power" (1997) is for me a prime example of what a director skilled with both actors and fluid camera can do to make a riveting film from a second-rate book. The David Baldacci novel in question, whatever its merits, gave brief but telling opportunities for individuals to interact with one another; these intelligent moments, director/producer/star Clint Eastwood had to string like bright beads onto a continuous and unbroken thread of dark meaning. In my opinion, he did this with Hitchcockian or Vidorian skill. The plot of this film can be told in two sentences. "A brilliant, aging career thief is interrupted during a very big score by the arrival of a man and a woman, then witnesses her murder by two secret service agents as she gains the upper hand in a struggle in the bedroom. He escapes but they get his license number, and thereafter he decides to leave the country but then gets angry when the D.C. highly-placed perpetrators, the bad guys and their agents, misuse the victim's husband and then nearly kill his daughter--and exposes the crime.". Leaving aside details of how he does it, he and the police officer on the case manage to bring about a very satisfying conclusion. This efficient thriller is directed in award-level style by Eastwood, from a screenplay by William Goldman. Understated music by Lennie Niehaus, intelligently- matched cinematography by Jack N. Green, director of photography, a lovely production design by Henry Bumstead and solid art direction by Jack G. Taylor, Jr. advance the proceedings far above ordinary films. Stellar set decoration by Richard C. Goddard and Anne D, McCulley, above-average costumes, lighting, sound and special effects add to the film's considerable power. In key roles, Gene Hackman as the central figure in the disaster and Laura Linney as Eastwood's daughter come off best. Ed Harris as the head detective is folksy but adequate; Judy Davis is fine as the bad guy's chief, and E.G, Marshall lend dignity to the role of the aged husband. The secret service men are Scott Glenn and Dennis Haysbert, and they are good and well-used. As a telling fact, every small part in the piece is made memorable by the director's skill, from start to finish. Eastwood unarguably does one of his best acting jobs in a role that suits his strengths and limitations very well. The film is not as strong as "Space Cowboys", a bravura project; but it adds to the director's credentials; the closet sequence with its p.o.v. shots, shot changes is extremely memorable. There flaws-- notably the protagonist's failure to recognize the murderer sooner; but the film is miles above most of the special-effects with loud brainwashing music that constitutes postmodernist film that's being produced. A swell-acted, generally superior thriller this is, and one worth seeing more than once.
Review of Absolute Power
Absolute Power
(1997)
A memorable thriller with good acting, a great fluid direction and some flaws.
6 February 2009