7/10
It's All About The Performances
15 April 2017
Continuing my plan to watch every Clint Eastwood movie in order I come to Absolute Power (1997)

Plot In A Paragraph: Luther Whitney (Eastwood) a career thief witnesses a horrific crime involving the U.S. President (Gene Hackman).

At 67, Clint was clearly slowing down now. This was released 2 years after his last movie (The Bridges Of Madison County) and that followed 2 years after A Perfect World. For a man who often released several movies a year, this was quite a change of pace.

It's a bit of a mixed bag this one, the disguises (Master of disguise) Clint uses are not very good and some of it's not very logical, but the acting raises it above average. Absolute Power's awesome acting ensemble includes Gene Hackan, Scott Glenn Scott, E.G Marshall (in his last role) and the ever reliable Ed Harris and they are all great.

One of the things I noticed rewatching this is how parenting and fatherhood in particular, proved a key theme as in A Perfect World, and like several other Eastwood characters Whitney follows his own personal code. He is a thief, but he has a sense of honour. This is partially what makes him a sympathetic character alongside his good sense of humour and his apparent avoidance of needless violence.

Absolute Power was not a box office success. The movie earned a total domestic box office gross of $50 million to end 1997 as the 38th highest grossing movie of the year.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed